Azeri SOCAR hires U.S. UOP for refinery upgrade
Fri Feb 4, 2005 07:46 AM ET
BAKU, Feb 4
(Reuters) - Azeri state oil firm SOCAR has hired U.S. firm UOP Services to implement a $60-$90 million upgrade on gasoline units at one its refineries, a SOCAR official said on Friday.
The upgrade will allow the Haydar Aliyev refinery (formerly Azerneftyanajag) to boost gasoline production to 1.2-1.25 million tonnes a year by 2007 from a current 0.8-0.85 million tonnes and meet European Union quality standards.
SOCAR annually produces 9 million tonnes of crude oil, refines 6.5 million at its two refineries and exports around 2.5 million tonnes of crude oil and 2 million tonnes of refined products mainly to Mediterranean and Iranian markets.
SOCAR's two refineries have a combined designed capacity of 22 million tonnes a year and say they could significantly boost processing after major upgrades and if foreign majors working on the Caspian Sea agree to supply more crude.
UOP provides technology, products, engineered systems and services to petroleum refining, petrochemical, gas processing and chemical industries worldwide.
UOP is a limited company co-owned by subsidiaries of Honeywell and The Dow Chemical Company. Source: Reuters Engineering News Archive
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