BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 10. Kazakhstan is expected to increase transit of benzene and paraxylene (aromatic hydrocarbons) through the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, and the SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) terminal in the Georgian port of Kulevi in 2024, an informed source exclusively told Trend.
"Kazakhstan has no significant consumption of benzene and paraxylene, and the only producer in the country is the Atyrau refinery, which, for the past five years, has been sending them in transit to the SOCAR terminal in Kulevi under an agreement with the Azerbaijani side, from which the cargoes are sent to various countries around the world," noted the source.
The Atyrau refinery plans to produce 33,500 tons of benzene and 205,700 tons of paraxylene and send the majority of these volumes through Baku to Kulevi for further export in 2024.
A reservoir with a capacity of 20,000 cubic meters is used to receive and store paraxylene at the Kulevi terminal, while 10,000 cubic meters are used for benzene.
"From January through November 2023, 23,300 tons of benzene passed through the SOCAR terminal in Kulevi (3.5 times more than in the 11 months of 2022), and about 18,000 tons of paraxylene," the source noted.
According to the source, the benzene production unit was undergoing repair in the fall of 2023, allowing for an increase in production and exports in 2024.
The production of paraxylene at the Atyrau refinery is periodically interrupted, and this unit is converted to the manufacturing of gasoline for domestic consumption in Kazakhstan, resulting in considerable swings in the export of this petrochemical commodity.