Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 11
By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:
SOCAR Methanol LLC, the methanol plant of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, plans to purchase about 550 million cubic meters of gas by the end of 2017, Elnur Bagirov, deputy director general of the plant, told Trend.
He said that SOCAR’s Azerigas Production Union is the supplier of natural gas to the plant.
“Our company purchases gas at a price approved by the Tariff (Price) Council of Azerbaijan,” Bagirov said. “According to the production plan for 2017, we receive 1.5 million cubic meters of gas daily.”
He also added that with the increase in production capacity, purchase of natural gas will be increased as well.
“Since we plan to double methanol production, gas supplies to the plant will double as well,” Bagirov said.
In Azerbaijan, gas prices for consumers not included in the population category are set at 200 manats per 1,000 cubic meters.
The methanol plant, which was built by AzMeCo LLC, is one of the biggest investments in Azerbaijan’s non-oil sector. One-of-a-kind for the South Caucasus and Central Asia regions, the methanol plant started selling its products in January 2014.
The plant’s annual output capacity is 700,000 tons per year.
AzMeCo for its outstanding debts was handed over to Aqrarkredit CJSC non-bank credit institution in accordance with a decision of Azerbaijan’s Cabinet of Ministers.
The methanol plant acquired by SOCAR costs $520 million.