SOCAR Refinery Modernization Costs Much More than Planned

The total cost of the project of modernization of the Baku Oil Refinery named after Heydar Aliyev is estimated at about $ 1.5- $ 1.7 billion, the Vice-President of SOCAR on Strategic Development Tofig Gahramanov told the media.

It should be noted that two years ago the cost of the project was estimated at about $ 1 billion, but then rose to $ 1.3 billion. “The project costs will be more than we originally planned. In August we stopped the factory for a month and evaluated it with the assistance of foreign experts. As a result, we need to do more than originally planned, and it will require more investment,” Gahramanov said.

According to his estimates, the investments in the project will amount to $ 1.5- $ 1.7 billion.

Gahramanov stressed that the project costs have amounted to 80 million manat so far.

“As part of the work it is planned to reconstruct 4 existing installations at the plant and the construction of 12 new facilities. It is necessary for us to organize the production of petroleum products by the standards of Euro-5,” he said.

According to him, in January 2017 a tender will be completed to select a company that will build a new plant in April - the company, which will deal with the reconstruction of existing installations.

“Modernization of the refinery will increase the refining capacity from 6 million to 7.5 million tons per year, and the catalytic cracking unit – from 2 to 2.5 million tons a year. After the modernization the annual production of gasoline will increase from 1.3 million tons to 2 3 million tons, diesel fuel - from 2.3 million tons to 2.9 million tons, kerosene - from 700 thousand tons to 1 million tons,” he added.

In the structure of production of petroleum products, which will be made at the refinery after the upgrade, 37% will be diesel fuel, 25% - gasoline, 13% - kerosene, and the remaining 25% will be other types of petroleum products. -0--