SOCAR to invest 1b manat to upgrade Baku refinery

Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR plans to demolish Azarneftyag, one of its two oil refineries in Baku, and upgrade the other one, the Heydar Aliyev refinery, SOCAR President Rovnaq Abdullayev said.

Azarneftyag’s demolition will be completed by 2017, Abdullayev told reporters today in Baku.

The company will invest about 1 billion manat ($1.27b) of state money to upgrade the Heydar Aliyev refinery, which will provide the country’s need for high-octane gasoline by 2030, Abdullayev said.

The Heydar Aliyev refinery too was initially planned to be demolished. The plan was revised because of a shortage of funds as SOCAR has several other projects to finance, such as the Shah Deniz 2 natural gas development, the Tanap pipeline and the Star refinery in Turkey, he said.

SOCAR also plans to build new gas processing and petrochemical plants in Baku’s Qaradag district by 2020. The project is estimated to cost $8.4 billion, Abdullayev said.

The plants will have a capacity of 12 billion cubic meters of gas and 750,000 tons of polyethylene a year, he said.

A new oil refinery is planned to be constructed in the same area for over $8 billion.

Bakudaily.Az