BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.17
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Modernization and repair of the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery is underway to increase the quality of production, Trend reports referring to Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR.
“A bitumen plant and a liquefied gas filling station were built and put into operation at the refinery as part of the project. At present, new facilities and additional all-factory facilities are being constructed at the refinery to ensure the production of EURO 5 diesel and gasoline. Ten main facilities and other all-factory facilities will be installed at the refinery as part of the project,” said SOCAR.
Baku Refinery was shut down for the planned repair on Aug.27. During this period, some work will be carried out on the installations as part of the plant modernization project. Thus, the temporary shutdown of the refinery may last up to 1.5 months. Since it began later than the scheduled repairs at Azerikimya production union, both plants are planned to be launched almost simultaneously.
Ibrahim Ahmadov, deputy head of the public relations and events department at SOCAR told Trend that AI-92 gasoline reserves should be enough to cover the domestic demand in Azerbaijan during the planned repair of the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery.
“Despite the damage caused by the pandemic, SOCAR took benefit from this situation. As a result of the lockdown in the country in March and April 2020, the fuel consumption dropped significantly, which enabled us to accumulate considerable reserves for the period of shut down of the refinery and to export the surplus volumes. The forecasts for consumption give ground to say that the AI-92 gasoline reserves should be enough to cover the domestic consumption in Azerbaijan during the planned repair of the Baku refinery, which will likely prevent its import this year,” he said.
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