Star refinery to receive first raw materials from Azerbaijan
Star refinery will receive the first crude oil shipment for processing from Azerbaijan by the end of June 2018, Mesut Ilter, General Manager of the Refinery said.
"Then, we will take the first crude oil processing unit into operation in the third week of July. We will receive three or four more cargoes mostly from the Middle East and Russia" he said, adding that the refinery will be ready to process first product at the beginning of October.
Ilter said that 99.1 percent of the refinery has been completed.
The investment to date is $5.2 billion, but once the project is completed, the total investment volume is anticipated to reach $6.3 billion, he added.
Along with naphtha, the new oil refinery will produce 5.95 million tons of diesel fuel with ultra-low sulfur content, 500,000 tons of aviation kerosene, 500,000 tons of reformate, 630,000 tons of petroleum coke, 240,000 tons of liquefied gas, 415,000 tons of mixed xylene, 75,000 tons of olefin LPG and 145,000 tons of sulfur. The refinery will not produce petrol and fuel oil. It is planned to refine Azeri Light, Kerkuk and URALS oil at the plant.
To date, the project shareholders are: Rafineri Holding with 60 percent (completely owned by SOCAR Turkey Energy), which previously bought out all 18.5 percent of the project shares of Turcas Petrol, and SOCAR with 40 percent.