Work on the complete modernization of the Baku Oil Refinery (BOR) named after H. Aliyev is planned to be completed in 2026-2027, announced Deputy General Director of SOCAR Downstream Management, project director Emil Alhasli last Friday at a press conference on the project of modernization and reconstruction of the BOR.
According to him, by the end of the modernization project, the refinery will provide the operation of 22 main process units: “A number of new main process and general plant utility units that meet modern requirements will be built and put into operation, and certain restoration work will be carried out at five main units. The refinery facilities and much of the existing infrastructure will be completely renovated.”
Alhasli stressed that in the summer of this year, the BOR plans to produce diesel fuel according to Euro-5 standards, and from mid-2023, bring the quality of domestic gasoline to Euro-5 standards.
The SOCAR representative also said that after the successful completion of the overhaul at the BOR this year, the plant will be closed for repairs not every year, but every two years. “As a result of the implementation of the subsequent stages of the project, a goal has been set to carry out repairs every four years,” Alhasli said.
It should be noted that the Baku refinery modernization project, which has been in operation since 1953, started in 2015. At that time, it was planned to complete the work in the second half of 2018. However, later it turned out that in order to achieve the goal of increasing the processing capacity from 6 to 7.5 million tons per year, it is necessary not to repair existing plants, but to build completely new ones. As a result, the deadlines for commissioning a complete modernization of the Baku refinery were first postponed to 2021, and then to 2023-2024.
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