Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The STAR refinery of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) in Izmir will process 8 million tons of crude oil by the end of this year, Report informs with reference to SOCAR Turkey Energy.

All plant installations were commissioned by the end of March.

STAR delivered the first batch of Petkim naphtha in January, and diesel and jet fuel entered the market in February.

Note that the opening ceremony of the STAR plant took place in Izmir on October 19, 2018.

The foundation of the STAR refinery was laid on October 25, 2011. A consortium of Técnicas Reunidas (Spain), Saipem (Italy), GS Engineering & Construction Corp (South Korea) and Itochu (Japan) built the plant.

The refining capacity of the plant is 10 million tons of crude oil per year. The company is able to process such grades of oil as Urals, Azeri Light and Kirkuk.

Star Oil Refinery that is the first Turkey-specific Industrial Zone opened in October 2018. Refinery will supply Petkim with raw materials. Star has already launched the sale of its first products on January 31, 2019.

The total investment cost of the project is $6.3 billion. 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.

The plant will produce 5 million tons of diesel fuel, 1.5 million tons of naphtha, 1.6 million tons of jet fuel, 1 million tons of xylene / reformat, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), petroleum coke and sulfur per year.

SOCAR will start construction of a new petrochemical complex in Turkey in 2019. The enterprise is expected to be commissioned at the end of 2022.

Investments of the SOCAR in Turkey will reach $19.5 billion in the future.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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