STAR Refinery's First Turnaround Ended Successfully
STAR Refinery, one of the group companies of SOCAR Türkiye, Türkiye's largest foreign direct investor and the largest integrated industrial group, has successfully completed its planned maintenance shutdown, which lasted approximately two months. STAR Refinery carried out maintenance and improvement work for all equipment in the facility by taking a planned break in production for the first time.
STAR Refinery, which produces uninterruptedly in integration with Petkim, another group company of SOCAR Türkiye, successfully completed the planned maintenance shutdown to increase its production capacity. Thanks to this turnaround, STAR Refinery's operational efficiency will increase, and it will be possible to produce uninterruptedly for the next 5 years without the need for a planned shutdown. With the completion of the capacity increase project carried out in integration with the planned shutdown, the refinery's production capacity was increased by 2.5%. STAR Refinery's first planned maintenance shutdown was preceded by a 2-year preparation period. The shutdown was successfully completed safely and in compliance with the occupational health, safety and environment (OHS-E) standards.
Commenting on the turnaround, Kanan Mirzayev, President of SOCAR Türkiye Refinery and Petrochemicals Business Unit and General Manager of Petkim, said: “We successfully completed the turnaround, the first since the STAR Refinery started operations, ahead of schedule, within budget and by increasing our production capacity. In 2018, we realized the only example of petrochemical-refinery integration in Türkiye with the STAR Refinery, which was built integrated into Petkim. As STAR Refinery, we meet a significant portion of Türkiye's processed crude oil need, and today we meet almost all Petkim's raw material needs with the light naphtha we produce at the refinery. As we have stated at every opportunity, we see SOCAR Türkiye's successful operations as a reflection of the strong cooperation between Türkiye and Azerbaijan. We will continue to contribute by creating value in line with the development, progress and goals of our countries.”