Black Sea Petroleum (BSP), the developer of Georgia’s first full-scale oil refinery, aims not only to export its products but also to fully supply the domestic market with Euro-5 standard gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel. In an exclusive interview with BMG, CEO and co-founder David Potskhveria discussed the refinery’s current operations, its first-phase achievements, and the development plans for Phase II. The $600 million project in Kulevi has already completed its initial stage, establishing a 1.2-million-ton annual-capacity facility producing semi-finished feedstock for naphtha, fuel oil, and diesel. Once Phase II is finished, annual output will increase to 4.5 million tons, enabling the production of Euro-5 gasoline, aviation fuel, and Euro-diesel.
Currently, BSP produces naphtha, high-sulfur diesel, and fuel oil, which are purchased by companies for further refining. Potskhveria notes that additional technological upgrades, specifically vacuum processing and bitumen production, will be launched by early 2027, significantly expanding the company’s product range. Production began in late 2025, and BSP’s client list already includes major global companies such as Trafigura, one of the world’s largest commodity traders, and Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in Saudi Arabia.
Photskhveria says the project is designed to establish an entirely new oil-refining sector in Georgia and transform the country into an exporter of petroleum products. While the refinery initially started processing Russian crude, BSP plans to fully replace it with Turkmen, Kazakh, and other non-Russian feedstock. This shift is strategically important because the EU bans imports of petroleum products made from Russian crude, and BSP aims to enter the European market. One challenge, however, has been delays in Azerbaijan’s approval of rail transit for Turkmen crude headed to Georgia, despite agreements already in place, a bottleneck BSP hopes will be resolved soon.
In early 2026, BSP signed a licensing agreement with U.S. corporation Honeywell, which will provide the engineering and technology required to build the advanced processing line needed for international-standard jet fuel, gasoline, diesel, and marine fuel. Potskhveria also confirmed that negotiations are underway with the U.S. Export-Import Bank to finance Honeywell’s technology supply for the Georgian project, strengthening the refinery’s long-term development and export ambitions.
