Turkey’s top refiner to double its capacity

İZMİT - Doğan News Agency

The capacity of Tüpraş will soon increase from 7.5 million tons of crude oil a year to 14.3 million tons as part of a $2.5 billion fuel oil conversion investment. DHA photo

Turkish Petroleum Refineries (TÜPRAŞ) is set to nearly double its capacity with an ongoing $2.5 billion fuel oil conversion investment in the northwestern Turkish province of Kocaeli, according to the company’s vice chairman.

After the project is completed in November 2014, the investment will expand the capacity of the facility from 7.5 million tons to 14.3 million tons and will provide employment for 10,000 people, Yılmaz Bayraktar said “With the upgrade project, fuel oil and other base products that are produced in surplus in Turkey and the region will be converted into the finished products [mainly diesel] that our country requires,” he said.

Tüpraş, which is controlled by Turkey’s Koç Group, is the country’s largest oil refiner and main importer of crude oil. A consortium by Koç, local Yıldız Holding and Malaysian UEM won the tender for Turkey’s toll roads, including the two bridges over the Bosphorus, for $5.7 billion.

Star refining, another giant facility slated to be built on the existing Petkim site in the Aegean province of İzmir, aims to reach an annual processing capacity of 10 million tons. The project is a joint venture between Turkey’s Turcas and Azerbaijan’s Socar, which is also building a $7 billion natural gas pipeline to Turkey’s west.

According to figures from Bayraktar, Tüpraş will still surpass Star’s output with the new investment, maintaining a place among the top refiners in Europe in terms of capacity.