<description>

The expected start of production of Euro-5 diesel fuel by the end of 2022 at the Baku Heydar Aliyev oil refinery did not take place, while the production of diesel fuel itself dropped by more than 15-16% as compared to the previous year, an informed source told Turan.

In summer of 2022, “SOCAR Downstream” announced that a hydrogen production plant for hydrotreating diesel and gasoline will be put into operation as a part of the modernization and reconstruction project of the Baku oil refinery.

It has to be kept in mind that by the end of the year it was planned to launch the production of diesel fuel according to Euro-5 environmental standards, and in the middle of 2023 — gasoline according to Euro-5 standards.

“The phased commissioning of Euro-5 diesel production units has faced certain difficulties. According to our expectations, the production of this type of fuel according to the new environmental standard can begin only in the summer of 2023. Accordingly, the release dates of Euro-5 gasoline are also significantly shifting,” the source said.

Allowing for such an adjustment and a general decrease in diesel output at the facilities available at the Baku oil refinery, SOCAR has limited export plans for diesel fuel in order to meet the needs of the domestic market.

As a whole, on average, the Baku oil refinery as the country’s only oil refinery (has a capacity of 6.5 million tons/year) produces 1.9 million tons of diesel fuel per year; however, modernization and commissioning of new installations should increase this figure to 2.9 million tons/year.

The source did not rule out that the possibility of producing 2 million tons of gasoline per year in Baku (60% of this volume is AI—92, the rest is AI-95) will be postponed to 2024 (so far only AI—92 is produced in the country with a volume of about 1.2 million tons/g), and the completion of the entire modernization process in the BOR is planned for the end of 2027-the beginning of 2028.

All things considered, the Government of Azerbaijan, which in the summer-autumn of 2022 outlined plans for the production of petroleum products in the period 2023-26, is currently engaged in clarifying these forecast indices.

Note that plans to produce 2.53 million tons of diesel fuel in the country as a part of the budget package-2023 are expected to be reduced.

At that, the gasoline plan will also be corrected, which had been projected to be produced in the amount of 1.444 million tons in 2023 and to increase the annual production to 1.55 million tons within three to four years.

In 2021, the production of AI-92 motor gasoline in the country amounted to 1 million 259.500 tons (increase of 7.9%), the remaining gasoline brands were imported.

In 2021, more than 16% growth in diesel fuel output was recorded – 2 million 403.6 tons

Source: Turan News Agency

</description>