Azeri plants unable to refine gas in full - minister

Azerbaijan’s refineries are able to refine only 60% of produced gas, Minister of Energy and Industry Natig Aliyev told the press.

He was replying to a question concerning the rising death toll from carbon dioxide in the country that has already reached 20, according to official estimates.

“There are no capacities to fully refine gas, which necessitates increasing the capacity of local refineries,” Aliyev said, adding that this would require considerable funds.

The minister said that on the other hand, fully refining gas could prove economically viable as a number of other compounds valuable for the industry would be acquired in the process.

Aliyev emphasized that the recent cases of dioxide poisoning had no bearing on the quality of gas and were a consequence of people’s negligence.*