BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 30. KazMunayGas, the state-owned oil and gas company of Kazakhstan, has ramped up negotiations with SOCAR, the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan, regarding the potential processing of Kazakh oil volumes at the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery in Baku, an informed source told Trend.
“In March 2024, a Memorandum of Strategic Partnership on the purchase and sale of Kazakh oil was signed in Baku, which reflects the possibility of its processing at the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery. Since Kazakh oil is naturally more sulfurous, the parties are delving into technical details. Both the testing phase and the negotiation phase are now active. That kind of partnership is appealing to Kazakhstan,” the source said.
The KazMunayGas group reportedly paid a recent visit to the Baku facility.
“The high-ranking delegation of KazMunayGas got acquainted with the reconstruction and modernization works that have been going on at the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery for several years. Discussions were also held on the progress of the refining segment of this refinery,” he added.
With an annual capacity of 6.5 million tons, the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery is Azerbaijan's sole refinery.
Each year, SOCAR sends approximately six million tons of oil to this facility for processing and the production of oil products.