Azernews.Az

By Leman Mammadova

SOCAR is implementing new investment projects to increase the storage capacity of the Star Refinery, which is able to process 10 million tons of crude oil per year.

Thus, SOCAR Storage Terminal Tank Expansion Project has been completed and commissioned at the SOCAR Storage Terminal, and the foundation of STAR Refinery Crude Oil and Oil Product Tanks Project was laid in the Aliaga region of Izmir, on September 25.

Rovnag Abdullayev, President of SOCAR, and Zaur Gahramanov, CEO of SOCAR Turkey Energy, and others attended the ceremony dedicated to commissioning new tanks at the SOCAR Storage Terminal and laying the foundation of new tanks at the STAR refinery.

Abdullayev noted that SOCAR continues to invest in oil, gas, refining and petrochemical sectors. “Petrochemical investments, which are an important part of SOCAR’s activities, provide a long-term sustainable source of value for the Azerbaijani economy, while also providing significant benefits for both the region and Turkey.”

“In particular, the total revenues of the Petkim petrochemical complex amounted to 47.2 billion Turkish liras over the past 10 years, while net profit exceeded 4 billion liras,” he said.

In his words, so far, 4 million tons of crude oil has been processed at the STAR refinery, and this figure will reach 8 million tons by late 2019.

“Increasing capacity of storage facilities will make a great contribution to Star's productivity, safety and processing of products under the most favorable commercial conditions on the market,” added Abdullayev.

SOCAR Storage Terminal Tank Expansion Project includes the installation of 12 additional tanks with a total capacity of 350,000 cubic meters for storage of diesel, gasoline, aviation fuel and reformate.

The construction of tanks has been carried out since September 2017. By the expansion of SOCAR Storage Terminal, this facility entered the top five largest terminals of Turkey in the Aegean region.

On the same day, the ceremony of laying the foundation of new reservoirs for storing oil and intermediate oil products took place at the STAR refinery in Izmir.

The project provides for an increase in the storage capacity of the plant by an additional 342,000 cubic meters. Work within this project will be completed in 2021. The total capacity of SOCAR Turkey Energy for the storage of oil products reached 2.5 million cubic meters due to new investments.

At the same time, STAR Refinery Crude Oil and Oil Products Tanks Project will increase the STAR refinery’s storage capacity and enhance operational flexibility. The project that will provide additional 342,000 cubic meters of storage capacity is scheduled to finish in 2021.

Earlier, Zaur Gahramanov said that the company will invest $600 million in investments to increase the capacity of the Turkish STAR refinery for the storage of oil and oil products.

Star Oil Refinery that is the first Turkey-specific Industrial Zone opened in October 2018. A consortium of Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain), Saipem (Italy), GS Engineering & Construction Corp (South Korea) and Itochu (Japan) built the plant.

The plant will supply Petkim with raw materials, producing 5 million tons of diesel fuel, 1.5 million tons of naphtha, 1.6 million tons of aircraft fuel, 1 million tons of xylene / reformat, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), oil coke and sulfur per year.

Refinery supplies Petkim with raw materials. Star has already launched the sale of its first products on January 31, 2019. By selling 1.303 tons of naphtha produced at STAR refinery to Petkim, SOCAR Turkey Energy completed the integration of the refinery and the petrochemical complex.

The total investment of the project is $6.3 billion, of which 90 percent has been already invested. By the end of 2021, Star's total capacity will be increased. In the end, the investment will total $7 billion. STAR has the first investment incentive granted by Turkey.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

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