SOCAR, Sberbank form JV to process oil at Antipinsky Refinery - paper
BAKU. June 3 (Interfax) - State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Sberbank have formed a joint venture to process oil at the Antipinsky Oil Refinery, which is owned by the Russian state lender, national daily Kommersant reported on Monday.
SOCAR and Sberbank have set up the trading joint venture Socar Energoresurs LLC, in which Cyprus-based Socar Russia Investments Ltd holds a 60% stake and Sberbank's SBK Komplekt LLC holds the other 40%, the paper said, citing data from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. The venture is expected to engage in processing at the Antipinsky refinery, which is bankrupt, the paper said.
The CEO of the venture is Farid Jafarov, the head of SOCAR's main Russian subsidiary, trader Socar Rus LLC. The venture has charter capital of 10,000 rubles.
SOCAR officials were unavailable for comment.
The decision to process oil under a tolling arrangement was made so that the refinery, at which bankruptcy proceedings have begun, does not sit idle, the paper said. The refinery was shut down in April because it did not have money to buy crude for processing.
Under the arrangement, the owner of the oil will supply it to the refinery, pay for processing services, and then receive the refined oil products and sell them independently. SOCAR expects to begin processing at the Antipinsky refinery by July, the paper said, citing a source.
The paper reported another source as saying that the venture will buy crude from major oil companies such as Lukoil and Surgutneftegas .
An additional type of activity by the joint venture is oil production, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. The venture might invest part of its profits in developing fields in Orenburg Region, thus eliminating the risk of losing licenses for failing to meet field development obligations, Kommersant said.