Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 6
By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:
As of today, expenditures within the implementation of the SOCAR Polymer project, which envisages the construction of plants in Azerbaijan on the production of high-density polyethylene and polypropylene, amounted to $340 million, Farid Jafarov, general manager of SOCAR Polymer, told reporters in Sumgait.
Jafarov said that the work on construction of the polypropylene plant continues in line with the schedule.
“Currently, the engineering work at the plant for the production of polypropylene has been completed by 95 percent, purchases – by 90 percent, and construction work – by almost 30 percent,” said Jafarov. “The project is planned to the completed in the first quarter of 2018.”
“As for the high-density polyethylene plant, we are even ahead of the schedule by 3-4 percent,” he noted it will be completed in mid-summer 2018 and the production will start.
He said also that Russia’s Gazprombank JSC allocated about $230 million out of the bank’s $489-million loan for the project.
Total cost of the SOCAR polymer project is $750 million. The project is being implemented in the Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park (SCIP) of Azerbaijan.
At the initial stage, production capacity will be 120,000 tons of polyethylene and 180,000 tons of polypropylene. The total capacity could reach 570,000 tons by 2021.
Thirty percent of the plant’s output will be sent to domestic market, while 70 percent – for export to Turkey, Europe and CIS countries, according to project estimates.
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