SOCAR lets contract for Turkish refining, petchem complexes

SOCAR Turkey Energy AS—the Turkish arm of State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic—has let a contract to Baker Hughes, a GE company, to deliver its proprietary Asset Performance Management (APM) software to increase efficiency, productivity, and reliability as part of an asset management system establishment and implementation project at SOCAR’s refining and petrochemical complexes in Turkey.

As part of the contract, BHGE—in cooperation with Fluor Corp.—is starting the rollout of its APM software at SOCAR Turkey Energy subsidiaries STAR Rafineri AS’s soon-to-be fully commissioned 10 million-tonne/year SOCAR Turkey Aegean Refinery (STAR) refinery in Izmir, Aliaga, and Petkim Petrokimya Holding AS’s (Petkim) 3.6 million-tpy nearby petrochemical complex, BHGE said on Sept. 12.

Alongside supporting SOCAR’s goal of securing maximum capacity for Petkim with construction of the new STAR refinery, the APM software will ensure safe, stable, and reliable operations at the two plants, as well as enable SOCAR to make data-informed decisions that increase life cycle, lower operational costs through improved efficiency, enhance performance, and mitigate risks at the manufacturing sites, according to the service provider.

“The STAR [r]efinery and Petkim [p]etrochemicals plants are central to our strategy of diversifying energy supply to Turkey and Europe, with Turkey as a key hub for energy transport and production,” said Emil Eminov, chief operating officer of SOCAR Turkey Energy.

In addition to increasing productivity at the two complexes, implementation of the asset management system establishment and implementation project furthers SOCAR’s goal of creating an integrated asset management system in the Aliaga Peninsula, where the company’s major investments are located, to support creation of an integrated energy value supply chain throughout Turkey, added Eminov.

Neither SOCAR nor BHGE revealed a value of the project implementation.

Content Dam Ogj Online Articles 2018 09 180912 Socar Turkey Petkim Final

Plant overviews

STAR Rafineri recently received the first 80,000-tonne cargo of Azerbaijani Azeri Light crude oil for processing at the $6.3-billion refinery, which is scheduled to begin full operations during this year’s fourth quarter (OGJ Online, Aug. 8, 2018).

Alongside its 10 million-tpy crude processing capacity, the integrated refining and petrochemical complex—which is under construction by a consortium of Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas SA, Italy’s Saipem SPA, South Korea’s GS Engineering & Construction Corp., and Japan’s Itochu Corp.—will include a 66,000-b/d hydrocracker, a 40,000-b/d delayed coker, a 28,000-b/d continuous catalytic regeneration reformer, as well as hydrotreating capacities of 20,000 b/d for naphtha, 26,000 b/d for kerosine, and 68,000 b/d for diesel (OGJ Online, Nov. 30, 2015).

Petkim’s nearby petrochemical complex—which will receive feedstock from the refinery—includes the following major production capacities:

• Low-density polyethylene; 190,000 tpy.

• Low-density polyethylene-tubuler; 120,000 tpy.

• High-density polyethylene; 96,000 tpy.

• Polypropylene; 144,000 tpy.

• Ethylene; 520,000 tpy.

• Aromatics; 270,000 tpy (benzene, 134,000 tpy; paraxylene, 136,000 tpy).

• Chlorine alkali; 214,000 tpy (gas chlorine, 100,000 tpy; sud caustic, 114,000 tpy).

• Vinylchloride monomer; 152,000 tpy.

• Polyvinyl chloride; 150,000 tpy.

• Acrylonitrile; 90,000 tpy.

• Monoethylene glycol; 89,000 tpy.