SOCAR’s Baku refinery starts up fuels plant under modernization program

State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) has completed construction and startup of a complex dedicated to production of Euro 5-quality gasoline and diesel as part of the ongoing modernization and reconstruction program at the operator’s more than 6-million tonnes/year (tpy) Heydar Aliyev refinery at Baku in Azerbaijan.

With construction on the complex’s diesel and gasoline plants wrapped and many of its installations now operable, the refinery’s production of AI-92 and AI-95 gasolines—Azerbaijan’s Euro 5-quality equivalent gasoline specifications—have already been brought up to Euro-5 standards, SOCAR said on June 30.

While it did not disclose capacity details, the operator said completion of the fuel complex now allows the refinery to meet Azerbaijan’s full demand for Euro 5-quality gasoline (EU-95) with domestic production.

Based on current market conditions, SOCAR said it expects the refinery’s supply of locally produced EU-95 gasoline will decrease the per liter cost of gasoline in the country by July 15.

SOCAR did not reveal a timeframe for when production of Euro 5-quality diesel from the recently completed fuels complex will begin.

In addition to boosting the refinery’s supply of cleaner fuels for domestic and export markets, as well as reducing environmental impacts at the site, the Baku refinery’s ongoing modernization and upgrading project predominantly aims to boost overall crude oil processing capacity at the manufacturing hub to 7.5 million tpy (OGJ Online, Apr. 18, 2022; Feb. 3, 2021; Dec. 6, 2018).

Ongoing modernization works at the site resulted in the Baku refinery processing nearly 6.3 million tpy of crude during 2023, up about 100,000 tpy from 2022, SOCAR said in a Feb. 9 release.