SOCAR Methanol produces 140,000 tons of methanol

By Azernews

By Sara Israfilbayova

The Methanol Plant of the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR has produced more than 140,000 tons of methanol since early 2017.

Earlier, the company reported that this year the plant plans to produce 250,000 tons of methanol. Considering the stable growth of demand for methanol imports in the world market, one of the main goals of SOCAR Methanol is to bring the production up to 500,000 tons per year.

Moreover, based on the methanol production SOCAR Methanol is conducting the research work on new products that will soon be introduced to the end users under the SOCAR brand with “Made in Azerbaijan” seal.

The methanol plant, which was built by AzMeCo, is one of the largest investments in the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan. The only methanol producing plant in the South Caucasus and Central Asian region has started sales since January 2014.

The annual capacity of the methanol plant is 720,000 tons.

SOCAR purchased the plant from a non-bank credit organization Aqrarkredit [also manages the troubled assets of the International Bank of Azerbaijan], to which the plant was transferred in accordance with the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers due to the debt the enterprise had to state organizations.

The cost of the plant was estimated at 810 million manats ($476.2).

SOCAR is a wholly state-owned national oil company headquartered in Baku, Azerbaijan. The company produces oil and natural gas from onshore and offshore fields in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea.

The company includes such production associations as Azneft (the enterprises producing oil and gas onshore and offshore), Azerikimya (the chemical enterprises) and Azerigas (distributor of gas produced in the country), as well as oil and gas processing plants, service companies, and the facilities involved in geophysical and drilling operations.