BAKU

Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR said it had completed its engagement in the management of Antipinsky oil refinery in Russia, the company said in a joint statement with Russia’s Sberbank.

It said that it had also withdrawn from the oil fields in Russia’s Orenburg region with proven oil reserves of 45 million tonnes, owned by the refinery’s subsidiary – NKNP LLC.

In 2019, SOCAR became a minority shareholder in SOCAR Energoresource, a joint venture (JV) between Russian lender Sberbank and a group of investors, that controls the Antipinsky oil refinery.

SOCAR said that it had decided not to participate as a bidder in the sales of Antipinsky refinery’s property held as a part of bankruptcy procedure “due to the fact that the deal is not included in the outline of the current development strategy of the company.”

“The partnership with Sberbank in such a complex asset as Antipinsky refinery was a great responsibility for us,” Rovnag Abdullayev, SOCAR president, said.

“We have put all our experience, knowledge and skills in this project and we gained valuable experience, dealing with a large production complex on the federal level in Russia,” he added.

“During our cooperation, SOCAR has shown itself as a reliable, professional and responsible partner. We hope that our good relations will continue developing in other projects,” German Gref, Sberbank’s president and chairman.

SOCAR said that given its successful experience in managing the assets of the Antipinsky refinery after the completion of sales of the refinery’s assets, the company would look forward to assisting its operational management if another mutually beneficial commercial agreement would be achieved in the future.

Antipinsky refinery has an annual production capacity of 7.5 million tonnes. It produces diesel, vacuum gasoil, naphtha, gasoline (A80 and A92), coke, technical sulfur, process oil and liquefied gas.