SOCAR, BP creating petchem joint venture in Turkey [UPDATE]

By  Trend

BP and SOCAR Turkey, a subsidiary of the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR, signed a heads of agreement (HoA) to evaluate the creation of a joint venture that would build and operate a world-scale petrochemicals complex in Turkey, Trend reports referring to SOCAR on Dec. 20.

The facility would be located at SOCAR Turkey’s Private Industrial Zone in Aliaga, which includes the recently-inaugurated STAR refinery and major Petkim petrochemicals site.

The facility would produce 1.25 million tons per annum (tpa) of purified terephthalic acid (PTA), 840,000 tpa paraxylene (PX) and 340,000 tpa benzene.

PTA is used to manufacture polyesters, which have many uses, including food and beverage containers, packaging materials, fabrics, films and other consumer and industry applications.

“The immediate proximity to the feedstock and infrastructure provided by SOCAR’s other facilities will contribute significantly to the competitive power of the new facility,” Vagif Aliyev, chairman of the Board of SOCAR Turkey, said.

“Expanding our immense refining and petrochemical complex, built at the gateway to world markets on the Aegean coast of Turkey, we aim to continue to contribute to the economies of the two brother countries – Turkey and Azerbaijan,” he said.

BP and SOCAR expect to work towards a potential final investment decision in 2019, which can result in start-up of the new plant in 2023.

So far, SOCAR Turkey has invested over $14 billion in the Turkish economy. Meanwhile, 5,000 people work in the company, while the export potential reaches $3 billion. The company has a controlling stake (51 percent) in the Petkim petrochemical complex on the Aliaga peninsula and owns the STAR oil refinery.