A new refinery is planned to be commissioned in Azerbaijan, SOCAR Vice-President for Strategic Development, OGPC Director Tofig Qahramanov said at the OGPC second forum Nov. 5.

A refinery will be built as part of the second phase of the project and will be commissioned in 2030.

“Its construction is envisaged as part of a new oil and gas processing, gas and petrochemical complex (OGPC) in Azerbaijan,” Qahramanov said.

Qahramanov said that taking into account the need to ensure the country’s needs for petroleum products and making huge investments into the implementation of global oil and gas projects, a decision was made to amend the work schedule for the refinery construction.

“A decision was made to reconstruct the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery as part of ensuring Azerbaijan's fuel needs,” he said. “A decision was also made that it will continue working for 15 more years. In particular, it is planned to reconstruct the refinery and construct 7-8 new units.”

Qahramanov said that a gas processing plant and an enterprise for the production of petrochemical products are planned to be constructed as part of the OGPC first phase. It is planned to be implemented by 2020.

The capacity of a gas processing plant will be 12 billion cubic meters per year, while chemical production - 860,000 metric tons of polymer products per year.

“After doing research, a decision was made to use gas as the main raw material at the petrochemical enterprise, instead of naphtha,” he said.

The total cost of the first phase of the project is estimated at $7 billion (given a loan interest - $8.45 billion). The payback period will be 4-5 years. Around 30 percent of the project will be implemented through the state funds (the amount will be partially allocated during five years), while 70 percent – through the borrowed funds.

OGPC will be located 60 kilometers from Baku and will consist of three processing enterprises and a thermal power plant (TPP).

The OGPC construction project implementation will improve the product quality, enhance the export potential of the country and help protect the environment of the capital.