Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 16
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR plans to earn $140-150 million annually as a result of the operation of its carbamide plant, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said.
He made the remarks in Baku at the reception of the American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan (AmCham) Nov. 16.
Abdullayev said that the carbamide plant will be constructed in late 2017.
“The carbamide plant construction project is worth $750 million,” he said. “Production will be launched at the plant in January-June 2018.”
The plant will produce 2,000 tons of carbamide per day. A quarter of products is planned to be supplied to the domestic market. The remaining volume will be exported, in particular to Turkey, Georgia and the markets of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
Samsung Engineering Co., Ltd. won the tender for the carbamide plant construction.
The company acts as a general contractor, but it has no license for ammonia production, which will be an intermediate product in the carbamide production process. Therefore, the corresponding licensing agreements have also been signed with Danish Haldor Topsoe company concerning ammonia production and Netherlands’ Stamicarbon B.V. concerning carbamide production.
The plant will consume electricity in the volume of 25-26 megawatt per hour.
At first, construction work was financed through the state budget funds. Around 205 million manat was allocated till early 2015. But later a decision about project financing was made and negotiations with banks were launched.
As a result, a 500 million euro credit line was opened by Korea Eximbank under the state guarantees of Azerbaijan to complete the construction. Eximbank directly allocates 251 million euros. Moreover, 249 million euros are allocated by 3 commercial banks UniCredit, Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank with Eximbank’s support.
Meanwhile, 1.3 million cubic meters of gas will be required per day for the full operation of the carbamide plant.