Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.8
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
Work on the reconstruction and modernization of the Baku Oil Refinery named after Heydar Aliyev will ensure the production of gasoline with an octane rating of 95, the Vice-President of SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) on strategic development, the head of the new oil and gas processing and petrochemical complex (OGPC) Tofig Gahramanov told reporters.
"Work on the construction of 7 or 8 new plants that will produce high-octane components in order to produce AI-95 gasoline will be carried out at the refinery, besides the reconstruction work," said Gahramanov.
Earlier, SOCAR completely stopped production of AI-95 gasoline in order to satisfy the growing needs of the republic in the gasoline. The company switched to production of AI-92 gasoline, which accounts for most of the gasoline consumed in the country. Needs of the country in 95 octane gasoline are provided by import.
Gahramanov said that the modernization work of the refinery named after Heydar Aliyev is scheduled to be completed by late 2018 or early 2019. The plant will continue its work for yet another 15 years.
The cost of reconstruction of the refinery named after Heydar Aliyev is estimated at 1 billion AZN, and it will be financed by public funds, the head of SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev previously said. Work on the reconstruction will increase its capacity from 6 to 8 million metric tons per year. Also, the gasoline production capacity will be increased to 3 million metric tons per year.
Oil products are produced at two Baku refineries with a total capacity of 16 million metric tons of oil per year. Both plants are owned by SOCAR, which annually processes approximately 7 million metric tons of oil, extracted onshore and offshore at the expense of its own funds. Only last year, Azerbaijan produced 5.09 million metric tons of the main petroleum products.
Azerbaijan will produce 6.22 million metric tons of oil products in 2015 versus 6.17 million metric tons projected for 2014, according to the government's forecasts. The volume of oil production in the country is forecasted at 6.31 million metric tons per year for 2016-2018.
Regarding the issue of construction of a new refinery in Azerbaijan within the framework of the OGPC project, Gahramanov said that it is planned to be commissioned in 2030. Capacity of the new plant will amount to 8.6 million metric tons.
A gas processing plant and an enterprise for the production of petrochemical products are planned to be constructed as part of the OGPC first phase. It is planned to be implemented by
2020.
The capacity of a gas processing plant will be 12 billion cubic meters per year, while chemical production - 860,000 metric tons of polymer products per year.
OGPC will be located 60 kilometers from Baku and will consist of three processing enterprises and a thermal power plant (TPP).
The OGPC construction project implementation will improve the product quality, enhance the export potential of the country and help protect the environment of the capital.
