Oil & Gas

Azerbaijan's state oil and gas company, SOCAR, has announced a temporary halt in operations at its Turkish refinery, which has a production capacity exceeding 200,000 barrels per day. According to the Washington-based Specialty Energy Platform, the STAR oil refinery will be offline for two weeks to undergo extensive maintenance.

Located in Izmir on Turkey's Aegean coast, the STAR refinery is SOCAR's first in the country and one of the largest foreign investments, with a total cost of $6.3 billion. It is also the newest of Turkey’s refineries. SOCAR Turkey’s official data reveals that the refinery provides about 19.5% of Turkey’s demand for refined oil products, including diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, and liquefied petroleum gas.

This maintenance shutdown marks the first significant pause in operations since production began in 2018. Scheduled to start on September 5, 2024, the work is expected to last for one and a half to two months. The announcement follows an earlier statement by SOCAR Turkey’s acting CEO, Elchin Ibadov, in May 2023, where he confirmed that the first maintenance work would occur in 2024 and outlined plans to extend maintenance intervals to every 4-5 years, saving up to $40 million.

The STAR refinery is a key buyer of Russian Urals crude oil, both on the spot market and under contracts. During the first seven months of 2024, Urals imports to the refinery reached 200,000 barrels per day, according to a Reuters report. The refinery’s shutdown is expected to impact sales of Russian crude, though traders anticipate SOCAR will use storage options to mitigate disruptions during the maintenance period.