Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 12
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
Delegates of South Korea's Export-Import Bank will visit Azerbaijan in a two weeks' time to discuss allocation of a long-term loan to the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR for construction of carbamide plant, the plant's director, Khayal Jafarov told reporters Apr. 12.
"We [SOCAR] have appealed to Azerbaijan's government to get a state guarantee for the loan," said Jafarov.
He added that the negotiation process will take three to four months.
"We hope that in June or July we will have a state guarantee and funds to complete the project," said Jafarov. "The carbamide plant's construction project is estimated at 498 million euros, but this includes only the cost of the plant's production area, and the costs of creating external infrastructure are not envisaged here."
"Taking into account the 150 million euros already raised for the project, the taxes, as well as the third party infrastructure projects, the total costs of the project will be 910 to 920 million euros, including 200 million euros for the payment of taxes," Jafarov explained.
The carbamide plant's construction is going on in accordance with schedule, he added.
"The plant's construction will be completed by the end of the third or beginning of the fourth quarter of 2016," said Jafarov. "The plant is planned to be commissioned by early 2018 taking into account the creation of external infrastructure."
South Korea's Samsung Engineering is the general contractor of the plant's construction. The plant is expected to release its first products in the first quarter of 2018.
Some 40 to 50 percent of the plant's products will be sold in the domestic market and the rest will be sent for exports. Turkey, which annually imports 1.5 million tons of carbamide, is expected to become the main export market.