BAZAN Group (BAZAN, ), formerly Oil Refineries Ltd. (ORL), is an oil refining and

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable s ...

s company located in

Haifa Bay The Bay of Haifa or Haifa Bay (, ''Mifratz Heifa''), formerly Bay of Acre, is a bay along the Mediterranean coast of Northern Israel. Haifa Bay is Israel's only natural harbor on the Mediterranean. ''Haifa Bay'' also refers one of Haifa's ni ...

, Israel. It operates the largest

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, Bitumen, asphalt base, ...

in the country. ORL has a total oil refining capacity of approximately 9.8 million tons of crude oil per year with a

Nelson complexity index The Nelson complexity index (NCI) is a measure to compare the secondary conversion capacity of a petroleum refinery with the primary distillation capacity. The index provides an easy metric for quantifying and ranking the complexity of various ...

of 9. ORL provides a variety of products used in industrial operations, agriculture and transportation. ORL is Israel's largest integrated refining and petrochemical facility. The company also provides storage and transportation services for oil fuel products, as well as electricity and steam to industrial customers in the region. The company is traded in the

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE; ), colloquially known as The Bursa, is the only public stock exchange in Israel and a public company itself, listed on its own exchange since August 1, 2019. It is regulated by the ''Securities Law (1968)'' a ...

under the symbol ORL. Until 2020, it was a component of the Tel Aviv 35 Index.

History

The company's beginnings date back to the

British Mandate for Palestine The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordanwhich had been part of the Ottoman Empire for four centuriesfollowing the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in Wo ...

when Consolidated Refineries Limited (CRL), a joint venture of

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP), started constructing a sprawling refinery complex which sat at the end of the British-built Mosul–Haifa oil pipeline which stretched from the

oil fields A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presen ...

near

Kirkuk Kirkuk (; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate. The city is home to a diverse population of Kurds, Iraqi Turkmen, Iraqi Turkmens and Arabs. Kirkuk sits on the ruins of the original Kirkuk Cit ...

in then British-controlled

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. Construction of the first refinery unit started in 1938 and was carried out by the M. W. Kellogg Co. with assistance from

Solel Boneh Solel Boneh (, lit. ''Paving and Building'') is the oldest, and one of the largest, construction and civil engineering companies in Israel. History During British rule (1921–1948) Solel Boneh was founded in 1921 in British-ruled Palestine, ...

, with an annual capacity of two million tons of crude oil. Construction was completed in 1944, increasing the annual yield to four million tons of crude oil. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the complex supplied refined products to British and American forces operating in the

Mediterranean and Middle East theatre The Mediterranean and Middle East theatre was a major theatre of operations during the Second World War. The vast size of the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre saw interconnected land, naval, and air campaigns fought for control of the Med ...

, and was bombed many times during the early stage of the war, by Italy. Damage to the refineries was quickly repaired. On December 30, 1947, a group from the

Irgun The Irgun (), officially the National Military Organization in the Land of Israel, often abbreviated as Etzel or IZL (), was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of th ...

hurled two bombs from a passing car into a crowd of Arab workers, killing 6 and injuring 42. In response, Arab workers rioted, beating 39–41 Jewish workers to death and wounding 49. The two events became known as the

Haifa Oil Refinery massacre The Haifa Oil Refinery massacre took place on 30 December 1947 in Mandatory Palestine, when 39–41 Jewish refinery workers were killed by their Arab coworkers in a mass lynching. The massacre was a response to an Irgun terrorist attack, where ...

. Due to concerns about the Arab League Boycott, the British Government sold CRL to the State of Israel in 1958 which then changed its name to Oil Refineries Ltd. Since then the complex has undergone significant expansion and upgrades. In the past, ORL also owned the Ashdod Oil Refinery in southern Israel and therefore as a company, it held a

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

over oil refining in the country. This changed in 2006, when Israel's Government Companies Authority, headed by Eyal Gabbai started privatization processes. On August 1, 2006, the Ashdod facilities were sold to the

Paz Oil Company Paz Oil Company Ltd. () () is the largest Israeli fuels company. Paz distributes gasoline and other petroleum products through a network of gas stations, as well as LPG and natural gas for home use (cooking and heating) through its subsidiar ...

for 3.5 billion ILS. In February 2007, 44% of the shares were sold to institutional investors. Following this, 46% were sold to the Ofer-Federman group at 3.30 ILS per share, with the remaining shares sold in an IPO on the

in 2007. There were more than 5,500 requests to buy shares, an unprecedented number. The company's iconic and historic cooling towers were removed from service in 2008. One of the towers was converted into a visitor's center, which is open to the public for free, and include multi-sensory tours. On June 12, 2020, the eastern cooling tower unexpectedly collapsed. In 2009 the Bazan Group and Olefins companies merged and in 2010 Haifa Basic Oils was fully purchased by Bazan. In 2012 Bazan commissioned UOP's Unicracking strategies in its plants for production of

liquid petroleum gas Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, ''n''-butane and isobutane. It can also contain some propyle ...

naphtha Naphtha (, recorded as less common or nonstandard in all dictionaries: ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Generally, it is a fraction of crude oil, but it can also be produced from natural-gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and ...

, and

kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...

. The facility was struck by an Iranian missile in June 2025 as part of the Iran-Israel War. The attack caused a complete shutdown of the facility and resulted in the death of three employees. More than 70% of ORL's products are distributed locally (for private and public purposes) and the rest is exported. The company is a direct employer of 1,500 workers and an additional 2,000 contractors; the majority of employees are residents of Haifa and the northern region of Israel.

Subsidiaries

Carmel Olefins is Israel's sole manufacturer of petrochemical products that are used as raw materials for the

plastics industry The plastics industry manufactures polymer materials—commonly called plastics—and offers services in plastics important to a range of industries, including packaging, building and construction, electronics, aerospace, manufacturing and transpo ...

. Carmel manufactures standard and special grades of

polypropylene Polypropylene (PP), also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. It is produced via chain-growth polymerization from the monomer Propene, propylene. Polypropylene belongs to the group of polyolefin ...

(PP) as well as a broad range of

low density polyethylene Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) is a thermoplastic made from the monomer ethylene. It was the first grade of polyethylene, produced in 1933 by John C. Swallow and M.W Perrin who were working for Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) using a high pr ...

(LDPE) grades. Gadiv Petrochemicals, opened in 1974, manufactures and supplies a range of petrochemicals products including

aromatic hydrocarbon Aromatic compounds or arenes are organic compounds "with a chemistry typified by benzene" and "cyclically conjugated." The word "aromatic" originates from the past grouping of molecules based on odor, before their general chemical properties were ...

s, aliphatic solvents and intermediates for pharmaceutical, plastic, food and chemical industries. Haifa Basic Oils produces base oils and

paraffin wax Paraffin wax (or petroleum wax) is a soft colorless solid derived from petroleum, coal, or oil shale that consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules containing between 20 and 40 carbon atoms. It is solid at room temperature and melting poi ...

, exporting nearly 50% of its products to overseas companies.

Partnerships and innovation

In 2018 Bazan launched BNNovation, an innovation initiative to grow small and larger companies in the fields of energy, renewable energy, and industry. In 2019, BNNovation was among the founders of ESIL Technologies, an international team operating a lab for cleantech innovation and environmental protection. Also in 2019, Bazan won the tender to establish an environmental innovation lab in Haifa Bay together with the Israeli branch of

EDF Renewables EDF Renewables (formerly ''EDF Renouvelables'') is a wholly owned subsidiary of the French utility EDF Group, specializing in renewable energy production. As an integrated operator, the Group develops and finances the construction of renewable e ...

and

Johnson Matthey Johnson Matthey plc is a British multinational speciality chemicals and sustainable technologies company headquartered in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Early year ...

. Partners include

Haier Haier Group Corporation () is a Chinese multinational home appliances and consumer electronics company headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong. Its Haier Smart Home Company affiliate, of which it owns 35%, designs, develops, manufactures and se ...

Group Corporation and Leumi Partners. On November 16, 2020, Bazan signed a MOU with the Emirati energy company Mazrui International to import polymers that are not made in Israel. In November 2021,

UBQ Materials UBQ Materials is an Israeli cleantech company created to convert unsorted household waste into a thermoplastic composite. The company's primary product, UBQ, is a thermoplastic, sold in the form of pellets, that can be used to substitute for wood, ...

signed with Bazan to provide climate-friendly thermoplastics for resin products.

Environmental impact

BAZAN Group's vast petrochemical plants have released significant amounts of pollution to the environment around Haifa Bay. The company has set goals to reduce air pollution, including investing over a billion dollars to develop environmentally-friendly systems. Starting in March 2011, after being connected to the new national

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

distribution grid, the plants switched to using natural gas (rather than mostly

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine f ...

) as their main power source, thus greatly reducing the amount of air pollution emanating from the complex. In 2012, the company also completed a

hydrocracking In petrochemistry, petroleum geology and organic chemistry, cracking is the process whereby complex organic molecules such as kerogens or long-chain hydrocarbons are broken down into simpler molecules such as light hydrocarbons, by the breaking ...

unit. The switch to natural gas was expected to save the company US$200 million per year in fuel and other costs. In 2014 ORL acquired systems for treating hazards related to smells and treating emissions of volatile organic materials. In 2020, ORL published its first report for Corporate Responsibility since 2011, including its achievements in reducing benzene emissions and facilitating healthier environmental conditions. In December 2020 BAZAN announced a $3.7 million project to create, compress and transport hydrogen with the ultimate goal of bringing hydrogen-fueled cars to Israel. In April 2021, a government CEO committee assigned to resolve Haifa's decline, suggested a full closure of Bazan group's facilities within 10 years, is required. In July 2021, Bazan presented plans to become the leading Israeli supplier of

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

and

alternative fuel Alternative fuels, also known as non-conventional and advanced fuels, are fuels derived from sources other than petroleum. Alternative fuels include gaseous fossil fuels like propane, natural gas, methane, and ammonia; biofuels like biodies ...

s at a conference in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. The company announced it would make $1.5 billion in capital investments by 2030, and laid out a three-pronged strategy built in accordance with international ESG standards. The company announced a set objective of 15% green

polymer A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...

s by 2025 and 30% by 2030.

References

External links