Baku, May 22, AZERTAC

The very first crude oil tanker for “Star” oil refinery, which is under construction in Aliaga, Izmir city of Turkey, will be sent from Azerbaijan in June, Director General of STAR Refinery Inc. Mesut Ilter said.

“An agreement has already been achieved. After completion of the test works, the plant will be commissioned in the last week of July. Up to now, 99.1% of construction works have been completed and 98.7% of total works were implemented on the project,” he said.

"I do not think oil prices will rise up to $100 a barrel. The price between $60 and $75 per barrel is an ideal level for both producers and consumers,” Mesut Ilter added.

Total of 100 million man-hours performed in construction of the plant, which employs about 16,000 people. Starting from summer, the plant will run trial mode. The very first product of the plant is expected to be loaded on tankers in last week of September.

The refinery will process an estimated 10 million tons of crude oil per year and is expected to considerably reduce Turkey`s dependence on foreign energy imports. The plant will completely cut Turkey`s naphtha imports. Overall, it is expected to cut Turkey`s imports worth $ 2.5 billion.

The foundation of STAR Oil Refinery was laid on October 25, 2011, by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Plant will have crude oil processing capacity of 10 mln tons per year. The plant annually will produce annual 1.6 mln tons of naphtha, 5 mln tons of diesel, 1.6 mln tons of jet fuel, 300,000 tons of LPG, 160,000 tons of sulfur and other products.