“26 people on equipment, 36 - in protection”: how does a joint oil refinery with Russia work in Afghanistan

The opening of the refinery was scheduled for Sunday, April 21. However, the only road leading north to the Turkmen border, along which the RT correspondents were traveling, turned out to be filled with a crowd of excited people in dirty pyrohan-tumbons (“body protector”, Afghans national dress. - RT). A long column of trucks and cars stood tight.

Loaders rebelled because of the decision announced by the authorities to transfer customs from the outskirts to the center of the city.

Herat customs are called “golden”: it “gives good” to goods from Iran and Turkmenistan.

“Generic and clan system,” explained the translator Hadi. “Now these day laborers will be out of work, people from the area where the inspection point will be located are already at the new place.”

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Protesters set fire to tires. There was nothing to breathe. However, the co-owner of the joint Russian-Afghan oil company, Pogos Poghosyan, reassured us by phone that we would be in time for the opening of the plant.

“I think the rally will be going away soon. - answered Pogosyan. “Afghans have everything clearly, like in the Soviet Army: war is war, and lunch is according to schedule.”

So it happened.

From anti-aircraft gunners to oilmen

Pogos Poghosyan knows about the military order firsthand. Armenian native of Georgian Akhaltsikhe, in 1981 he graduated from the Leningrad Higher Anti-aircraft Missile Command Order of the Red Star School.

“He served in Armenia in the anti-aircraft missile brigade in the city of Artik, did not go to the Armenian army after the collapse of the Union, went to Russia,” he said, when we were able to get to the refinery. “I continued to serve under Peter, the commander of the control battery and radar reconnaissance.”

In peacetime, Captain Pogosyan earned the medal "For Military Merit": at the Emba air defense ground, his battery completed the task four times "excellent." And then, in 1996, he retired from the army. For reasons unknown to him, the service growth slowed down. In the mid-1990s, money was paid to the military a little and with long delays.

“I have a family, children, so life forced me to stop shooting target planes at landfills and retraining myself as oilmen,” he says. - At first I traded in oil products, including with Afghanistan. A few years ago, we created a company with Afghan business friends that will produce petroleum products directly in Afghanistan. ”

Ansar Oil Refinery, a Russian-Afghan venture, purchased a mini-refinery in Russia for the processing of hydrocarbons and received all the necessary international certificates. Businessmen agreed to supply gas condensate from Turkmenistan.

For the installation and commissioning of equipment on site, one Western company requested $ 1.3 million, but Muscovite Poghos Pogosyan, not only the co-founder of the company, but also its chief engineer, moved and installed and tested everything in three years.

"I am a meticulous techie in life," he says. - Until I figure out what each cog is for, I will not rest. I studied all the mechanisms and technologies of this refinery. ”

Afghan business

“I needed to get one paper in the Kabul ministry,” recalls Pogosyan. - Do not give once, do not give two. Come tomorrow, they say, and “tomorrow” in this country can mean “never.” For the third time I came to this official and said that I would live in his office. I say, I invested a lot of money in your country, the plant brought back, which only until the end of this year can process 100 thousand tons of raw materials, and you put sticks in my wheels. I had such a formidable tone, worked out over the years of military service, that he understood: it is better to sign. Signed.

According to Pogosyan, for ten years of business trips to Afghanistan and three years of living directly in the country, he is so accustomed that the locals do not see him as a foreigner, but they take him as their own.

“Formerly, business forced me to learn English, now I speak Farsi almost fluently, at the everyday level, of course,” Poghos smiles. - According to the mentality, an Armenian is as unyielding as an Afghan. But as a person, I am not afraid of anything: the will of the Most High is at all. ”

The last "feat" of Pogosyan in the battles with local officials is the removal from office of two major officials of the relevant ministry in Kabul. All checks from them ended with one: the product does not meet the parameters, low octane number.

“My laboratory at the plant is much more modern than theirs,” Pogosyan indignant. - The oil products that we produced during the test launches, buyers tear off their hands, at a price of $ 20 above the market. Our A-80 is better than the A-92, which is sold in this country. At gas stations dealers already write ads: "Russian gasoline" and "Russian diesel." Good, that is! How much more money did the officials need to deposit in order to “raise” octane? ”

Nobody believed that Pogosyan would win in a fight with powerful people from Kabul. However, he did it.

And in February 2019, the refinery had to stand up in arms. The company was attacked by the Taliban, who manage the night in Afghanistan. If, then, about 60 trucks with gas condensate exploded, they would have seen an outbreak in the city of Herat and in Turkmenistan, to the border with which is 80 kilometers. But a powerful reciprocal machine-gun fire from security posts forced the attackers to scatter.

“We have 26 people working at the plant, and 36 fighters in the guard,” says Poghosyan. - Therefore, gasoline in Afghanistan is so expensive. But this is the whole Afghan business today. ”

Launch

“Forgive me, Almighty, today is Armenian Easter and you cannot work, but you love workers,” after these “solemn” words, Poghos Poghosyan began to turn on the equipment.

A modern mini-refinery with a capacity of 20 thousand liters of gasoline per hour is controlled by a computer mouse.

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Poghos Poghosyan and IT specialist from Kazakhstan Nurlan Andosov are transferred by technical terms: “bypass”, “rectification”, “valve”. The furnace gradually heats the raw material, and it enters the distillation column.

“Nurik is the only real interlocutor here,” says Poghos. - People from the USSR, we both speak Russian. I am trying to teach the Russian "Chahal", but so far to no avail. "

“Chahal” - in Armenian “blue-eyed”. A graduate of the Kabul University, Jamallutdin Jamal, has just such eyes. He is the main hope of Pogos Pogosyan, the man whom he hopes to entrust the technical management of the plant. For now, the refinery’s work processes are fully understood only by “people from the USSR”, Poghos and Nurlan. There are practically no local trained personnel who understand the processing of hydrocarbons.

The launch is quiet, but requires constant attention. "Mouse" briskly "runs" on the gate, and suddenly Pogosyan called.

Emergency evacuation

My friends from Kabul, who know the current local realities, sent me to Herat as a special operation. They made Pirokhan-Tumbon, a Pashtun hat and a checkered shawl buy. Interpreter Ilyas was instructed to get me twisted at the slightest attempt to leave the area controlled by government forces.

In Afghanistan today there is a real hunt for foreigners. For the captured captives, the Taliban or simply gangster gangs demand incredible ransoms. I didn’t want to become a “commodity”, but in the Afghan vestments only the blind could not identify a visitor as a “kafir” (“infidel”, not a Muslim. - RT).

Hadi, a highly respected businessman in the province of Herat, brought us to the Pogosyan factory with a translator more than once who proved personal integrity. At the refinery staff is also proven.

But by telephone, the chief engineer was handed an order for the emergency evacuation of everyone except armed guards. It was reported that one of the Afghan workers was told that it would be very dangerous to not stay at the plant in the evening.

While Pogos Pogosyan and Nurlan Andosov were stopped by the technological process, translator Ilyas talked to the militant, alarmed guards.

“They think the Taliban will come for a foreigner,” said Ilyas. - Someone noticed you, figured out, passed them on. Do you think Pogosyan will give us automatic machines? ”

I reassured the young translator. But somehow you feel awkward when you stop a whole plant because of you.

Workers were the first to leave on motorcycles at night - three each. The Afghan engineers left the plant in the wake of the car. For us from Herat came the head of the security service of the plant on the armored Toyota.

A jeep weighing 4.5 tons flew a bullet to Herat. But still, these 20 minutes in the middle of the Afghan night on a completely empty road I cannot call the best in life.

“Do not be sad, correspondent,” said Pogos Poghosyan. - It's not your fault, but me. It is impossible for Armenians to work in the Armenian Easter. God sees everything! And we will definitely launch the plant tomorrow. ”

We reached Herat without incident. Armenian Easter still celebrated. As expected, at the festive table in the restaurant.

There was no attack on the refinery at night. In the morning, Pogos Poghosyan launched the first and only joint Russian-Afghan oil refinery in Afghanistan at full capacity.