Turkey's Tupras Completes New Refinery Unit to Process 28 Million Tonnes per Year

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Turkey's sole oil refiner, Tupras (BIST:TUPRS) (Kocaeli, Turkey), has finished its $2.9 billion Residuum Upgrade Project (RUP). The new unit at the Izmit Refinery is expected to produce 28 million tonnes per year of diesel from lower-value raw materials. Tupras is a subsidiary of Turkey's biggest conglomerate, Koc Holding (BIST:KCHOL) (Istanbul, Turkey).

The project is expected to be fully operational in mid-2015, following a ramp-up period in the first quarter. During an opening ceremony for the new unit, Tupras General Manager Yavuz Erkut said: "Tupras will double its diesel production to 11 million tonnes per year with this new investment. Also, we'll expand our gasoline production by 30% in next year."

The upgrades will allow the facility to produce 690,000 tons of petroleum coke, which Tupras plans to sell to cement plants.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with three ministers, attended the opening of the new unit.

"This investment will help to scale down Turkey's current account deficit by $1 billion per year," said Tupras Chairman Omer M. Koc. Earlier this week, Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said that the country has yet to see the effect of declining oil prices.

Turkey is saving $4 billion with each $10-per-barrel decline in crude prices. The price of Brent crude has fallen 45% in the last six months to $59.86, its lowest level since May 2009.

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