Kuwait to develop refineries in Ceyhan

CEYHAN, Turkey, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Kuwaiti officials visited the Turkish port city of Ceyhan to discuss construction of oil refineries near the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline termination.

Members of Kuwait Petroleum International met local officials in Ceyhan to examine the potential for as many as four refineries to handle the oil from BTC, Turkish daily Today's Zaman reported Thursday.

KPI Vice President Mohammed Rashed Jasem visited the Ceyhan Chamber of Commerce following a meeting with the Turkish state-owned pipeline firm, BOTAS.

Four Kuwaiti firms tendered proposals to build refineries at the Ceyhan port. The production capacity there would approach 280 million barrels of oil per year if all bids were accepted.

We "believe the region may have up to five refineries, since this city has enough land and energy resources to satisfy the needs of all of these refineries," Jasem added.

About 1.3 trillion barrels of oil per year reaches Ceyhan from the Azeri capital, Baku.