Azerbaijan state-owned Socar has agreed to buy Italian refiner API.
In a letter dated September 16 to employees of the Italian company, API chairman Ugo Brachetti Peretti said the preliminary agreement was signed on 15 September.
"It is a development opportunity for [API] since the entry of a solid global multinational player will allow the company to strengthen its position globally, consolidating the role of Mediterranean strategic hub," Brachetti Peretti said.
He gave no operational or financial details. A source told Argus the deal involves API's two refineries — the 126,500 b/d Trecate near Milan and 83,000 b/d Falconara at Ancona — and its distribution network. The group has a retail service station network counting more than 4,600 outlets.
The Falconara refinery, as well as the Alma Ravenna Refinery where API has a tolling arrangement, specialise in production of bitumen and oil products. Trecate mainly deals with the production of fuels. API also owns Bitumtec in the north of Italy, which produces modified bitumen.
Completion of the deal will require approval from the Italian government, which has a 'golden power' in sales involving critical assets such as energy companies and refineries. Two other Italian refineries have changed hands in recent years — Saras and its 300,000 b/d Sarroch plant were acquired by energy trading firm Vitol in 2024, and the 320,000 b/d Isab refinery was sold by Russia's Lukoil to private equity GOI Energy a year earlier.
Azerbaijan is an important trading partner for Italy and supplies Rome with gas through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline.

