Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend S.Aliyev / Initial cost of construction of an oil refinery plant to be built in the Turkish port of Ceyhan by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) is estimated upto $4bln, Rovnag Abdullayev, the SOCAR President, said.
The plant will be built by SOCAR - TURCAS consortium.
The enterprises will be in two stages, the first envisages establishment of oil refinery enterprise and the second petrochemical complex, Abdullayev said.
The construction of the ORP will start in 2008 and to be completed by 2012. The refining capacity of the plant will vary from 10mln to 15mln tons. It is planned to produce a wide range of oil products, all types of high quality gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation kerosene and petrochemical products. The enterprise is focusing on the Turkish market.
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has launched the development of a preliminary project on the construction of an oil refinery plant in Ceyhan ( Turkey), as the Turkish Ministry of Ecology is developing an environmental impact assessment of the ORP. Both documents will be complete in 5-6 months, Abdullayev stressed.
The Government of Turkey has received three applications for the construction of a new Oil Refinery Plant (ORP) in the area of Ceyhan port. There are three groups of companies willing to build ORPs. The first group unites Calik Enerji of Turkey, KazMunayGas of Kazakhstan and Oil India of India. The second group includes Turkish company TURCAS and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). The third group unites the Turkish company Petroil offici and the Austrian company OMV.
Turkey is presently experiencing a shortage of oil refining facilities. According to various information Turkey's current need for oil reaches 32mln tons per year.
The five oil refineries presently operational in Turkey may produce up to 26.5mln tons of oil product, and the country has to rely on importing the rest of the 6 -7mln tons of oil products, buying oil refined products from Russian or Italian companies. According to predictions, by 2010, Turkey's oil dependency will increase to 34mln tons and up to 43mln tons by 2012.
