Baku, Azerbaijan, July 22

By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:

The Star Refinery of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR in Aliaga on the Aegean coast agreed to buy an initial 1 million tons of Urals crude -- about a tenth of the plant’s annual processing -- from Russia’s Rosneft PJSC, Mesut Ilter, the facility’s chief executive officer, said in an interview, Trend reports citing Bloomberg.

“If there were no restrictions, we would buy Iranian crude,” he said, adding that the refinery can purchase oil from anywhere “as long as our model supports it."

The refinery, which is expanding storage capacity by more than 50 percent to 2.5 million cubic meters, will process almost 8 million tons of crude this year and 10 million tons thereafter, Ilter said. Refining margins range from $5 to $8 a barrel, he said.

Turkey will cut its diesel imports to 40 percent of annual demand from 60 percent thanks to the new refinery, Ilter said. Along with Tupras, the Star facility will be able to meet all the nation’s domestic jet-fuel demand, even once Istanbul’s new airport reaches full capacity, he said.

However, future growth in demand for oil products will be centered on petrochemicals rather than transportation, according to the CEO.

“We have built this refinery considering Turkey’s long-term dynamics and petrochemical needs.”

The opening ceremony of the Star oil refinery took place on October 19, 2018 in Izmir, Turkey.

The total refining capacity of the refinery will be 10 million tons, and Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR is the main supplier of crude for the refinery. The refinery will significantly reduce the dependence of Turkey on imports of petrochemical products.

The refinery worth $6.3 billion, built by SOCAR in the Aliaga District of Izmir, will produce 1.6 million tons of naphtha, 1.6 million tons of aviation fuel, 4.8 million tons of low-sulfur diesel, 700,000 tons of petroleum coke, 420,000 tons of mixed xylene and 160,000 tons of sulfur.

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