MOSCOW (MRC) -- A consortium comprised of Itochu and foreign firms won an order from the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) to build Turkey's largest oil refinery in the western city of Izmir. Other members of the consortium are Tecnicas Reunidas, Saipem and GS Engineering and Construction. They will sign the design, procurement and construction contract, said Hydracarbonprocessing.
Itochu will procure equipment from Japanese plant manufacturers for the roughly USD3.4 billion project, while the Japan Bank for International Cooperation will help SOCAR raise the necessary funds.
Other members of the consortium are Tecnicas Reunidas, Saipem and GS Engineering and Construction. They will sign the design, procurement and construction contract.
Itochu's portion of the project is worth about USD34 million. Construction will begin in autumn, and the refinery is slated to begin operating in 2017.
The refinery will be owned and operated by SOCAR. It will have a refining capacity of 214000 bopd, lifting Turkey's refining capacity by more than 30%.
As MRC wrote earlier, SOCAR is going to build a new complex processing oil, gas and petrochemicals in Azerbaijan in the next few years. Head of SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev spoke about projects implemented by the State Oil Company in Turkey, construction of a new shipyard and the Sumgayit plant for production of nitrogen fertilisers in Azerbaijan, construction of a new oil refinery in Turkey, expansion of the petrochemical complex Petkim's port, as well as a power plant to be built there.
SOCAR includes production association Azneft (companies producing oil and gas on land and sea) and Production Association Azerkimya (chemical industry), production association Azerigas (gas distribution).
The State Oil Company is the only producer of oil products in the country (it has two refineries on its balance sheet) and also owns petrol stations in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Romania. SOCAR possesses a network of petrol stations in Switzerland and is the co-owner of the largest Turkish petrochemical complex Petkim.
MRC