Details added (first version posted on 12:58)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 27
By Elena Kosolapova – Trend:
The final investment decision on the project of construction of the SOCAR GPC, a gas processing and petrochemical complex of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, in the country is expected to be made by early 2018, said Fuad Ahmadov, financial director of SOCAR Polymer company.
He made the remarks during ‘The 2nd SOCAR International Caspian and Central Asia Downstream Forum – Trading, Logistics, Refining, Petrochemicals’, held in Baku Apr. 27.
The cost of the project is about $4 billion, according to initial estimates.
Ahmadov noted that it is planned to finance the SOCAR GPC project by 70 percent at the expense of bank loans and by 30 percent at the expense of the $1.2 billion-worth authorized capital of the petrochemical complex.
“We are currently in talks with Chinese investors - China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) company and the Silk Road Foundation organization,” Ahmadov said. “We are now at the final stage of the talks.”
“We will try to finance most part of the project at the expense of Chinese credit organizations and investors, while keeping a larger shareholding of the Azerbaijani side,” he added.
Ahmadov noted that the project documentation is being developed and negotiations with banks and investors are being held in parallel.
The construction of the complex will take four years, and it is planned to complete it in late 2022, he added. The ING Bank of the Netherlands, the China Development Bank and Russia’s Gazprombank are financial consultants of the SOCAR GPC project.