The foundation of Mersin Refinery was laid 61 years ago

Anadolu Refinery Inc., was an oil refining company based in Turkey. The company was founded in 1958 by Niyazi Önen. The headquarters and facilities of the company are located in the Mediterranean district of Mersin. ATAŞ was established in 1958 following the exclusive agreement between the Turkish government and Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Caltex. Caltex later sold its share to Mobil. The main shareholder of the company was BP with 68 percent and the other partners were Shell & Turcas Petrol (27 percent) and Turcas (5 percent). The refinery was built by the Swiss contractor Foster Wheeler AG and went into operation on 30 April 1962. Its annual production was 3.2 million tons. Production was stopped at ATAŞ on 7 June 2004. With the closure of the refinery after 42 years of production, households and industrial facilities in 24 provinces in the Mediterranean and Southeast Anatolia regions faced fuel shortages. Thereupon, the temporary supply from TÜPRAŞ Kırıkkale Refinery, which is 485 km away, caused oil prices to increase by around 11 percent. Following the investments, the facility was transformed into a large-scale storage and fuel oil, diesel and gasoline terminal. It underwent a refurbishment from 2004-2006 by the original contractor Foster Wheeler in the 1960s. The terminal on the Mediterranean coast is suitable for high capacity tankers. The storage capacity of the terminal is 570,000 m³. Since 2015, the Akdeniz municipality has been making efforts to transform the ATAŞ Terminal campus into a public park for social and cultural events, preserving the historical character of the ATAŞ Terminal campus, which formed an area of ​​over 30 hectares and became passive after the refinery was closed.