The projects technical documentation and its economic feasibility are currently under review.

Recently we got paid a visit by a few state officials from Baku who discussed with us the possibility of developing an 80,000 tons per year base oil plant in Azerbaijan, Oleg Tsvetkov, head of the lubricants department at VNIINP, the Moscow-based All Russia Research Institute for Oil Refining, told Lube Report. We advised them that Group II and Group III base oil production is a must if they want to be competitive on the market.

Azerbaijan oil fields feature low-sulfur and naphthenic crude oils that need solid hydro-treating, and these are great preconditions for production of Group II base oil. Naphthenic crudes contain asphaltic materials but little or no paraffin wax.

VNIINP has been involved in development of many refining projects in Russia and in ex-Soviet states.

Azpromo, a joint public-private-initiative established by theMinistry of Economy and Industryof Azerbaijan, has proposed the project as a gas-to-liquids facility that would make fuels as well as base oils. VNIINP, which does not have expertise in GTL projects, is recommending conventional Group II and III technology.

The government said the project could be constructed in two years and that the investment could be recouped in eight years.