'Azerbaijan is active investor in Turkey'

Turkey and Azerbaijan are strategic partners, having many large-scale projects, including "Baku-Tbilisi-Kars", the development of "Shah Deniz" gas condensate field, Trans Anadolu project (TANAP), SOCAR Turkey Energy executive director Kenan Yavuz said at the forum in Baku today. The forum is dedicated to the creation of a new complex for oil and gas processing and production of petrochemical products in Azerbaijan.

"The privatization of Petkim is a strategic issue in the cooperation between the two countries," he said. "Azerbaijan is an active investor in Turkey through the privatization of Turkish petrochemical complex Petkim."

Earlier, on March 30 Socar Turkey Enerji A.? and SOCAR International DMCC OGG acquired 10.32 percent stake in Petkim, increasing its stake to 61.32 percent. Some 38.67 percent are in free circulation in the Istanbul Stock Exchange.

The Petkim Petrokimya Holding manufactures plastic packaging, fabric, PVC and detergents. It is the only Turkish producer of such products and exports a quarter of its production.

Speaking about the Shah Deniz field second stage development project, which will transport gas to Turkey and Europe, Yavuz said that this project will further strengthen the positions of Azerbaijan and Turkey.

He also stressed the importance of the Star Refinery construction project worth $5 billion in Turkey. This project implementation has great importance for both Turkey and the entire region and will bring additional revenue.

The total capacity of the refinery will hit 10 million tons and oil products produced at the plant will be designed to meet the needs of Petkim and the Turkish domestic market.

The alliance between SOCAR and Turcas Petrol /Injaz projects resulted in them winning a tender in 2008 to buy a 51 per cent stake in various chemical projects worth $2.04 billion. Now Turkey imports 70 to 75 per cent of its chemical products. Investments in the development of Petkim will reduce that figure by 30 per cent.


/Trend/