State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and the Turkish government have inaugurated the US$6.3bn (€5.5bn) Aegean refinery project (STAR) in İzmir's Aliağa district (Turkey). The first shipment of crude oil has arrived from Azerbaijan and the 10 Mt/year (200,000 bbl/d) facility is expected to start production at the end of October 2018.
The STAR refinery is fully owned by SOCAR, since the group has acquired the 18.5% held indirectly by Turcas Petrol. The project will process a range of different crude oils, including Urals, Azeri Light and Kirkuk. It will produce low-sulfur diesel (4.5 Mt/year) for the adjacent Petkim petrochemical plant, naphtha (1.6 Mt/year) and 1.6 Mt/year of jet fuel.
The project is expected to reduce Turkey's trade deficit by around US$1.5bn/year (€1.3bn/year), cutting the import rate of diesel below 40%, that of LPG to 70% (from 80%) and eliminating needs for jet fuel imports.