/By AzerNews/

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR has declared the elimination of the Azneftyag refinery saying the refinery will be merged with the Baku Oil Refinery named after Heydar Aliyev.

The news was announced by Vice-President of SOCAR on Staff and Information Technology Regime Khalig Mammadov on December 25.

He noted this decision was made as part of works being carried out to improve and optimize the structure of SOCAR.

“All social issues and social sustainability of workerswill be ensured by this decision,” Mammadov added.

Speaking at a press conference, SOCAR Vice-President of Economic Issues Suleyman Gasimov said SOCAR has carried out extensive works on the optimization of the activity of its various business units to bringthem into line with international standards.

“The elimination of the Azneftyag refinery does not mean the termination of its works. The main goal is to organize the management of the refinery process from a single centre,” he noted.

In his remarks, SOCAR Vice-President for Refining David Mammadov said currently, works are underway on improving the quality and increasing the quantity of petroleum products that meet international standards.

He noted the refining process should be carried out by a single centre and the decision to merge the two refineries was adopted with an aim to integrate these processing enterprises.

“The main goal is to establish a modern processing body which would take about 3-4 years. Thus, all the necessary procedures to produce petroleum products will be organized at the refinery named after Heydar Aliyev, and the Azneftyag refinery will stop working soon,” Mammadov added.