Monday, July 16, 2012 -
Azerbaijan intends to build an oil refinery in the impoverished Central Asian state of Tajikistan, according to a deal signed between two state firms during a state visit to Baku by the Tajik president last week.
Details of the deal are found in an agreement signed by Tajikistan’s Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) and Azerbaijan’s Azeraluminum, the CA-News agency reported on Friday.
U.S. engineering firm Foster Wheeler is interested in undertake a feasibility study for the construction of the refinery, according to the Tajik news agency Avesta.tj.
The refinery is expected to be built in the south of the country, which borders Afghanistan.
The agreement to build a refinery comes four months after Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil and gas concern SOCAR solidified an agreement with Kyrgyz leaders to also build an oil refinery in Kyrgyzstan.
That refinery, expected to be built in the northern Chui province, is estimated to process 2 million tons of crude annually.