SOCAR ready to process Kazakh oil at new oil refinery

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) sees it possible to increase the processing capacity of the new gas processing plant as part of a new complex for oil and gas processing and production of petrochemical products (OGPC) from 10 to 15 billion cubic meters a year, SOCAR VP for strategic development Tofig Gahramanov said on Thursday at a meeting with members of the Caspian-European integration Business club (CEIBC).

He said that at this stage the company does not consider the gas from the Shah Deniz field as a raw material for the plant.

"The plant capacity can grow, because by that time gas will be produced from the fields of Absheron, Umid, Babek, Nakhchivan. We also plan to send to the plant 15 percent of gas from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of fields. We gave up the idea to use gas from the Shah Deniz field," Gahramanov said.

He said the company is considering various options for sources of raw materials for oil refinery.

"One option is to use 70 percent of SOCAR oil and 30 percent - Azeri Light. Most realistic is 70 percent of SOCAR oil, up to 10 percent - Urals oil and 20 percent of Kazakhstan's oil from Tengiz field. There are other options as well," Gahramanov said.

He said the new complex will ensure primarily domestic needs of Azerbaijan, as well as exports to Georgia, Turkey, Southern Europe, Russia and Iran. Much attention will be paid to environmental issues, on which it is planned to spend 5-10 percent of the funds invested in the creation of the complex.

Creation of a new complex, costing about $17 billion (including interest on loans), involves the construction of a petrochemical enterprise, an oil refinery with capacity of ten million tons a year, as well as gas processing plant with capacity of 10 billion cubic meters a year. Depth of processing at the plant will be about 95 percent, while the yield of light oil products - 85 percent. In the long term capacity of the gas processing plant is planned to increase to 15 billion cubic meters a year. As part of the new complex it is planned to create heat and energy center with capacity of 250 megawatts.

The complex will be located on 1,500 hectares 60 kilometers from Baku. The entire OGPC complex is scheduled to open by the end of 2020.


/Trend/