Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr I. Khalilova / State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) is developing a project to increase the quality of oil production, to be implemented by 2008, SOCAR vice president on refining, Davud Mammadov , reported on the 5th of June.
According to Mammadov , after the completion of the project a tender on detailed engineering and development will be announced.
Azerbaijan can begin production of petrol in compliance with European standards in 2009-2010.
"Today Azerbaijan is not in need to comply with European petrol standards, as Azerbaijani transport is not adapted to the fuel corresponding to European standards. Use of such fuel will lead the population to excessive expenditures," Mammadov said.
Mammadov considers it to be more expedient to change the engines and to improve their technical state before introducing European standards in oil production. This will enable a decrease emissions to environment.
At present, the first place in this connection amongst post-Soviet countries is occupied by Russia, which allows imports of euro-3 engines, while in Azerbaijan the engines are of any standard (euro, euro -1, euro-2, euro-3).
"In Azerbaijan we widely use А-80 petrol, while Europe does not use this kind of fuel. We will begin the production of petrol corresponding to European standards for the vehicles imported from Europe by the end of the year," he stated.
According to the vice president, the diesel oil produced by Heydar Aliyev oil-refining plant corresponds to European standards.