SOCAR to set up another petrochemical company in Turkey

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmhammad

Azerbaijan’s state oil Company SOCAR and BP will set up a joint petrochemical enterprise in Turkey, Turkish media reported on April 30.

The companies have already applied to the Turkish antimonopoly authorities for the permission to establish the joint enterprise, which will be called Mercury complex.

The estimated investment in the project stands at $1.8 billion. SOCAR's and BP's share in the project is 50/50 parity. The complex is expected to be commissioned before the end of 2023.

The construction of the new petrochemical complex is expected to enable Turkey to cover the current account deficit by $6 billion annually.

Earlier it was reported that on December 20, 2018 SOCAR and BP signed contractual principles for evaluation of plans for creation a world-class petrochemical complex in Turkey and establishment of a joint venture to manage it.

Construction of the complex was planned to begin during the current year in order to put the enterprise into operation in 2023-2025. However, due to low oil prices and to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project implementation has been postponed until 2021.

"There have been some delays in the date of FDI. The oil price corridor of $20-30 per barrel had a strong impact on both us and our partners. In this regard, the final investment decision on the Mercury project, scheduled for late 2020, is now postponed to the 4th quarter of next year," CEO of SOCAR Turkey Zaur Gahramanov. has said.

The Mercury complex will be built near the Petkim petrochemical complex and the STAR refinery in Aliaga region. The enterprise will produce 1.25 million tons of purified terephthalic acid (PTA), 840 thousand tons of paraxylene (PX), 340 thousand tons of benzene. PTA is the main raw material in the production of polyester from which beverage and food containers, packaging materials, photo and film and other consumer and industrial goods are derived.