Socar selects Honeywell technologies to upgrade Heydar Aliyev oil refinery in Azerbaijan

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (Socar) has selected a suite of Honeywell UOP technologies to upgrade its Heydar Aliyev Baku oil refinery in Azerbaijan.

The modernisation will enable the refinery to produce quality gasoline that meets stringent emission standards and help Azerbaijan meet growing domestic demand for transportation fuels.

Honeywell UOP vice-president Pete Piotrowski said: "Honeywell UOP will provide a suite of technologies that will allow Socar to efficiently produce higher octane gasoline with far fewer contaminants.

"This latest effort builds on a strong business relationship with Socar, which includes an economic and technical assessment of the refinery and builds on work by Honeywell UOP for Socar’s new Star refinery in Turkey."

Honeywell UOP will also provide basic engineering designs and a process revamp study for the oil company.

The technologies licensed for the refinery include the UOP Penex, the UOP Coker Naphtha Hydrotreating, the UOP Merox and the UOP Ethermax processes.

Other technologies include the UOP Sulfide Oxidation and the Fluid Catalytic Cracking processes.

The Heydar Aliyev Baku oil refinery includes technology equipment such as the ED-AV-6 unit and is currently processing 21 out of 24 grades of Azerbaijan crude, in addition to 15 different petroleum products.

In 2010, the refinery produced 43,000t of A-98 gasoline, 1,185,700t of A-92 gasoline and 19,700t of A-80 gasoline.