Sofaz invests $475m in Turkish refinery project

Azerbaijan's state oil fund, Sofaz, said it had invested $475 million to help fund construction of the new Star oil refinery in the west of Turkey, Reuters reported.The fund said on Monday it would provide another $300 million next year for the $5 billion refinery project, which aims to start production in mid-2017 with an annual crude processing capacity of 10 million tonnes.Azeri state energy company SOCAR is building the Star refinery in partnership with Turcas Petrol to supply Turkish petrochemical company Petkim and reduce Turkey's dependence on imported refined products.The $34 billion Azeri state oil fund invests the revenue from its oil contracts, oil and gas sales, transit fees and other revenues and uses the proceeds to help finance social spending and infrastructure projects.SOCAR said earlier this year it would also borrow about $3 billion on the international markets to finance the project.SOCAR signed a $3.46 billion engineering procurement and construction contract with a consortium comprising Tecnicas Reunidas, Saipem, GS Engineering & Construction and Itochu Corp in May.ANN.Az