Azerbaijan, Baku, May 8 /Trend E.Ismayilov/
Work is underway to prepare the landscape for the start of construction work under the project of creating a new STAR refinery in Turkey, where the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has equity participation, source at SOCAR told Trend.
The source noted that the process of working within the construction of a new processing facility is in compliance with the plan.
As senior official of SOCAR said previously $6 billion will be allocated for the construction of a new refinery. Construction of the refinery will be financed partly by means of shareholders (30 percent), which is about $1.8 billion, and through bank loans.
Annual production of naphtha, which is used as the primary Petkim raw materials, will be 1.66 million tons in STAR. Currently, more than 80 percent of the needs of Petkim in the naphtha are met through imports, the dependence on imports will be reduced to zero after the introduction of a new refinery.
The plant will not be tied to a single grade of oil, it will be possible to refine Russian (Ural), Azerbaijani and Iranian oil.
Apart from naphtha, a new refinery will produce diesel fuel with ultra-low sulfur content in the volume of 5.95 million tons, jet fuel - 500,000 tons, petroleum coke - 630 thousand tons, liquefied gas - 240,000 tons, mixed xylene - 415 thousand tons, olefinic LPG - 75,000 tons and 145,000 tons of sulfur.
A solemn ceremony of laying the foundation of a new refinery was held in the Turkish city of Izmir in October 2011