The Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery (HAOR) was established on 29 July 1953 by the USSR Ministry of Oil Industry. The refinery was previously named the New Baku Oil Refinery, Azerneftyanajag Production Union and Azerneftyanajag Oil Refinery. Since 22 April 2004, it has borne the name of National Leader Heydar Aliyev.
HAOR produces 30 types of products, mainly liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), motor gasolines, jet fuel, diesel fuel, furnace fuel oil, household heating fuel, petroleum coke, liquefied gas fractions for petrochemical enterprises, naphtha fraction, dry gas, naphthenic acids, bitumens, as well as industrial, turbine and transformer oils. The refinery meets the bulk of domestic demand.
The refinery's main process units are the primary processing units, comprising electric desalting, atmospheric distillation and vacuum distillation blocks. The refinery specializes in crude oil processing and has an annual crude oil processing capacity of 6.8 million tonnes. In addition to the primary processing units, the refinery operates secondary processing units, including the catalytic reforming, delayed coking, catalytic cracking, hydrogen production, diesel hydrotreatment, isomerization, methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) production, contact treatment of lube oils, acid tar regeneration, lube oil hydrotreatment and bitumen production units.
The primary processing units, where crude oil undergoes initial processing, supply feedstock to the refinery's secondary processing units. TS-1 jet fuel is shipped for sale as a commercial product directly from the primary processing unit.
The Catalytic Reforming Unit, with an annual capacity of 1 million tonnes, produces stable platformate, one of the key components in motor gasoline production.
The primary purpose of the Delayed Coking Unit, with an annual capacity of 1.3 million tonnes, is the production of electrode coke. In addition, the unit produces dry gas, stabilized LPG "head", coker gasoline, light gas oil and heavy gas oil.
The Catalytic Cracking Unit, with an annual capacity of 2 million tonnes, enables the production of high-octane motor gasoline components. In addition, the unit produces valuable feedstock for Azerikimya Production Union (technical propane, heavy cycle oil, technical butane and dry gas), as well as light cycle oil, an essential component for diesel fuel production.
The Isomerization, MTBE, Amine Treatment, C4 Hydrogenation, LPG Merox, Sulfur Recovery and Gasoline Hydrotreatment (PrimeG) units were successfully commissioned in late 2023–early 2024. With this, the Gasoline Phase was completed and production of Euro 5-compliant gasoline commenced.
The new Hydrogen Production Unit, commissioned at HAOR in early 2023, fully meets the refinery's demand for hydrogen feedstock.
With the commissioning of the new Diesel Hydrotreatment Unit, with an annual capacity of 3 million tonnes, in May 2023, the Diesel Phase of HAOR's Reconstruction and Modernization Project was completed and production of Euro 5-compliant diesel fuel commenced.
Under the Reconstruction and Modernization Project, the work related to establishing the production of Euro 5-compliant diesel and gasoline has been completed.
HAOR also operates a new bitumen production unit with a capacity of 400 thousand tonnes, as well as units producing various grades of lubricating oils.
Over 70 years, the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery has processed nearly 370 million tonnes of crude oil, built new units, introduced modern technologies and produced various types of petroleum products. Currently, 10% of the petroleum products produced are exported.
Since 2003, the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery has applied international standards. HAOR holds ISO 9001 (Quality Management System), ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System) and OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health and Safety Management System) certificates. In August 2019, the refinery also successfully obtained the EN 12591:2009 certificate for bitumen production.