Azerbaijan, Baku, April 11 / Trend E. Ismayilov, A. Badalova /
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) plans to complete construction of a carbamide plant in Sumgait in 2014, SOCAR's Azerkimya production association head Mukhtar Babayev said at a forum today dedicated to the construction of a new oil and gas processing and petrochemical production complex in Azerbaijan.
He said that large-scale operations on a new plant construction are planned to be launched during this year.
"The output of the plant will be delivered to ensure domestic needs of the Azerbaijani agricultural sector and export," Babayev said.
He said that at present, "Azerkimya" operates to optimize the production process. In particular, the production association has the plans to develop the production of polypropylene and polyethylene of high pressure.
It is also planned to create a chemical industrial area in Sumgait. There will be small enterprises, ensuring production of final chemical products in the country, most of which are currently imported.
Babayev said that the production association will work to optimize the production process and ensure all the necessary production volumes in the country until 2020, when a new complex is planned to be fully commissioned.
Petkim Company's general manager Hayati Ozturk said at the forum that Azerbaijan, with its hydrocarbon resources may become one of the petrochemical production centers. That is why the country is very attractive from the standpoint of investments.
SOCAR has equity participation in Petkim.
Along with the development of chemical production in Azerbaijan, SOCAR, being Petkim's co-owner, is actively involved in the Turkish petrochemical market. In particular, the operations are being conducted within STAR new refinery construction in Turkey to increase Petkim's share in the domestic market and reduce dependence on imported raw materials, STAR, Ozturk said.
"The development of the port, logistics and energy production in Petkim's territory will strengthen the positions of the complex both in Turkey and the global market," Ozturk said.
He stressed that at present, Petkim actively cooperates with "Azerkimya" production association in trade, logistics, training and technical sphere. The cooperation in these areas further strengthens the interaction and a high level of relations between the producers of chemical products in the two fraternal countries.
STAR Refinery AS Storey managing director Robert Storey said at the forum that the main objective of implementing the new refinery construction project is to make Petkim more competitive in the market.
The integration with Petkim is an important part of the work within this project implementation, Storey said.