15-11-2018

SOCAR Heydar Aliyev refinery acquires new equipment

SOCAR Heydar Aliyev Refinery procured a Larsen & Toubro diesel hydrotreating reactor as part of its modernization and reconstruction project. The new equipment is 32.7-meter long, 8.4-meter wide and 6.6-meter high and will be installed at the refinery in the near future. The reactor was produced at the Larsen & Toubro plant in Hazira, India and shipped from the Hazira’s Adani Port to ConstanÈ›a, Romania and continued its journey via the Volga-Don Shipping Canal from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea to Zykh, Baku where SOCAR’s Oil and Gas Construction production area is located. It was then transported to the Heydar Aliyev Refinery.

The first piece of equipment delivered to the refinery for the diesel hydrotreating unit was a Tekfen hydrogenation evaporating (32-K-001) column  34-meter long, 4-meter and 2.6-meter in diameter with a capacity of 150 tons. It followed a similar route from Derince, Turkey   through the Black Sea, Volga-Don Shipping Canal and the Caspian Sea arriving at the refinery in 35 days.  Two thermal reactors with a total capacity of 130 tons produced by AMD international SRL for a sulfur recovery unit, as well as six pieces of thermal cycling equipment produced by Daekyung Machinery & Engineering Co. Ltd for heating crude oil blend for the diesel hydrotreating unit were delivered earlier and are currently being installed.

The construction of the reactor  started  immediately after signing the contract in July 2017 and was completed in 14 months. The construction of 14 new facilities are planned within the scope of the refinery’s three-phase reconstruction. The first stage will be completed this year with the commissioning of the new bitumen plant and its associated facilities, as well as the construction of a new gas-filling station. The second stage includes the production of Euro 5 diesel fuel by the end of 2020 followed closely by the final stage of producing Euro-5 high-test gasoline by the beginning of 2021. The refinery’s annual processing capacity is expected to  increase from 6 million tons to 7.5-8 million tons. It will also help to produce and meet the market demand for A-92/95/98 gasoline. The modernization and reconstruction of the refinery will contribute to the improvement of environment protection in Baku.