The plant was built in 2016 by Russians, although officially it was built by an Abkhazian private firm. It was built to take advantage of the oil and gas reserves at the Caspian Sea for the benefit of Russia, in large part because the BTC pipeline couldn't let them otherwise due to it pumping oil from the Caspian Sea straight to Europe. It was situated a short distance away from the capital city of Sukhumi. It was a massive complex, composed of several facilities. The tallest building in the area was the distillation tower, which was also the first destination for oil refinery. The oil, once it was transferred there, was boiled at different temperatures to distill various impurities. Light impurities are removed at lower temperatures, which are found near the top of the tower, while heavie