Kazakh natural gas firm KazMunaiGaz will join a $4.9 billion project to build a refinery in the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, industry sources said yesterday. It was not clear what role the Kazakh company would have in the project.
Calik Energy and Indian Oil have already applied to the Turkish energy markets watchdog to construct the 300,000-barrels-per-day refinery at the mouth of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
“KazMunaiGaz has shown interest and they will participate,” said one source close to the deal. Another source said the deal could be signed in late April.
The oil export hub of Ceyhan is also the terminal for a pipeline from Iraq’s Kirkuk oilfields. The refinery is planned to supply both foreign and domestic markets. Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) must approve the plan before construction begins and is expected to do so within a month, a source said.
(Reuters, 27/03/2007)