Azernews.Az

By Trend

Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR will conclude several contracts on importing gasoline next month, SOCAR Vice-President David Mammadov told reporters on May 31.

He said this is linked with the planned shutdown of work at the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery.

Thanks to the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery, Azerbaijan fully covers the domestic demand for gasoline AI-92. Currently, the country imports only AI-95 and AI-98 gasoline.

He stressed that it is difficult to predict the gasoline consumption volumes in Azerbaijan in summer.

"We have a sufficient stock, according to our estimates. However, we have concluded several contracts with Russian gasoline producers to secure us. The are no obligations on volumes in these contracts. If the gasoline consumption in summer will be the same, as in May, there will be no need for import. In principle, there won't be any shortage of gasoline in Azerbaijan," Mammadov said.

He further stressed that the suspension of work in connection with the reconstruction and modernization at the Baku Oil Refinery will last about 30 days, at the Ethylene-Polyethylene plant - about 40-45 days.

"These figures are planned, indicative. Everything will depend on the progress of the work," Mammadov said.

He went on to say that the transfer of the primary oil processing unit together with atmospheric and vacuum distillation units (ELOU-AVT) with capacity of two million tons from the former Azneftyag oil refinery as part of the modernization of the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery is scheduled to be completed by late 2020.

In September 2018, a bitumen plant will be commissioned at the enterprise.

Currently, modernization of the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery is underway and will be completed in 2021. After modernization, the operational period of the refinery will be extended to 2040.

ELOU-AVT unit at Baku Refinery was built in 1976.

The cost of Baku Refinery’s modernization will cost nearly $2.2 billion.

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