The Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery (HAOR) was set up on 29 July 1953 by the USSR Ministry of Petroleum Industry. It was successively named the New Baku Oil Refinery, Azerneftyanajag Production Union, and Azerneftyanajag Oil Refinery. Since 22 April 2004, it bears the name of National Leader Heydar Aliyev.
HAOR produces as many as 30 products, notably LPG, motor gasolines, jet fuel, diesel fuel, fuel oil, household fuel, petroleum coke, gas fractions, naphtha cut, and dry gas for petrochemical facilities, naphthenic acids, bitumens, and also industrial, turbine, transformer oils etc.; it therefore is in the position to supply the bulk of the national demand.
The primary processing units of the refinery are crude desalters and crude and vacuum distillation units. The plant has a design capacity of 7 MTA of crude. Apart from the primary processing units, it employs such process units as the Continuous Catalytic Reformer (CCR), Delayed Coking Unit (DCU), Fluid Catalytic Cracker (FCC), Hydrogen Production Unit (HPU), Diesel Hydrotreater (DHT), Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) production unit, selective lube oil treatment, acid resin regeneration, lube oil hydrotreatment, and Bitumen Blowing Unit (BBU).
Primary processing units are the facilities that process crude oil and supply feedstock to the conversion units. TC-1 jet fuel is a product that does directly to sales from the primary processing unit.
The 1 MTA capacity CCR unit produces stable platformate, one of the critical components in motor gasoline production.
The 1.3 MTA capacity DCU produces coker naphtha that is fed PU Azerikimya units and light coker gasoil that is used in the production of diesel fuel. Besides, the unit produces petroleum coke and heavy gasoil for export.
The 2 MTA capacity FCC Unit enables the production of high-octane gasoline components; besides, the unit produces valuable feedstock for PU Azerikimya (industrial propane, industrial butane, and dry gas) as well as light cycle oil (LCO), a critical component for diesel production.
As part of the refinery modernization and reconstruction project, phased activities are nearing completion to achieve production of Euro 5 gasoline and diesel in Azerbaijan.
The new Hydrogen Production Unit was brought onstream early in 2023, and it fully supplies the refinery demand for hydrogen feedstock.
Bringing the new 3 MTA capacity Diesel Hydrotreater onstream in May of 2023 marked the completion of the Diesel Phase, and the production of Euro 5 diesel fuel has started.
Commissioning activities have completed on the Isomerization and Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) units installed as part of the Gasoline Phase of the project. Works are expected to complete during Q2 2004 at the C4 Hydrogenation Unit, Amine Treatment Unit, LPG Merox and Gasoline Hydrrotreatment Unit (PrimeG), all currently under construction at HAOR.
Also in operation are the new 400 kta Bitumen Blowing Unit and various lube oil production units.
Over the past seven decades, the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery has processed as much as 370 million tons of crude, built and commissioned new units, applied state-of-the-art technology, and produced various petroleum stock. It is currently selling overseas as much as 10 percent of its total produce.
Since 2003, the refinery has committed to the international standards such as ISO 9001 (Quality Management System), ISO 14001 (EEnvironmental management systems), OHSAS 18001 (International Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems) and procured the respective certificates to that end. A EN 12591:2009 compliance certificate was procured for the bitumen production plant in 2019.