16:07 - 24.04.2026

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April 24, Fineko/abc.az. Significant progress has been achieved as a result of projects on expansion of infrastructure and enhancing the operational capabilities of SOCAR's oil terminal in Kulevi, Georgia.

Ismayil Kerimov, Director General of SOCAR's Black Sea Terminal, said this at the session "Logistics Infrastructure: Potential, Transshipment & Route Changes in the Caspian-Central Asian Corridor" within the framework of the II Caspian and Central Asian Oil Trade & Logistics Forum.

There are currently three main infrastructure areas operating at the terminal.

"Reconstruction and construction works are underway at one of the terminals, and the facility is to be put into operation by the end of the year. The current capacity of the terminal is 407,000 cu m. The terminal has railway infrastructure with total length of 12 km, operating on five lines, which provides transportation of various types of goods. Last year, in cooperation with local organizations in the field of maritime transport, the necessary measures were taken to meet the requirements related to the introduction of night navigation. As a result, loading and unloading operations at the port, which were only possible during the daytime, are now also carried out at night. This has made it possible to increase container traffic almost 2-fold. At the same time, a large-scale project was launched to completely modernize the terminal's lighting system. As part of the project, work was initially completed in the main areas, and modernization is currently underway in other areas. The measures taken have increased the efficiency of technical operations and created conditions for increasing the total capacity of some vessels to 213 percent," he said.

The director general added that a project has been launched to build four new reservoirs with capacity of 20,000 cu m each: "The cost of the project with total capacity of 80,000 cu m is approx. $25 million and is fully financed by public investment. Mobilization has already begun, and the project is to be completed in about 14 months. Taking into account the possible additional 2-3 months, new facilities are to be commissioned within a year and a half."

Kerimov noted that all those measures are aimed at optimizing the transshipment of existing cargoes, attracting new customers and improving the overall operational efficiency of the terminal.

The Kulevi terminal is designed for the transit of oil and petroleum products. Here, products transported by rail and ships are unloaded, stored in tanks and loaded onto ships. Operations began here on May 16, 2008. Crude oil, fuel oil, diesel fuel, gas oil, methanol, aviation fuel, propylene, liquid pyrolysis resin, isopropyl alcohol, industrial oil, condensate and naphtha are loaded at the terminal.