BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov.18
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The engineering design of the new SOCAR GPC oil and gas processing and petrochemical complex was successfully completed some time ago, Ibrahim Ahmadov, deputy head of the public relations and events department at Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, told Trend.
Ahmadov said so far, no decision has been made on financing the project, adding that natural gas processing in Azerbaijan will be handled by the existing SOCAR gas processing plant.
“SOCAR GPC project envisages purification of natural gas from wet fractions and potentially harmful impurities. Purified methane, produced as a result of this processing will be sold in domestic market. At the same time, it is planned to produce polymers from impurities emitted during the gas purification process, which can subsequently be exported or sold in domestic market,” he said.
Rauf Guliyev, Finance Director of SOCAR Polymer earlier said that construction works on SOCAR GPC will begin in the first quarter of 2020, and the complex will be commissioned in the third quarter of 2023.
The GPC plant is to be built 15 kilometers away from Baku. Within the project, it is planned to build a gas processing and petrochemical complex with a capacity of about 10 billion cubic meters of gas annually (its plants will be the largest enterprises in the world in this segment), a gas-powered ethylene pyrolysis plant with a capacity of 610,000 tons, a propylene plant with a capacity of 130,000 tons and a polyethylene plant with a capacity of 600,000 tons as well as Butene-1 and Hexene-1 plants, general facilities and energy heat center.
Engineering and construction works within the framework of SOCAR GPC project are planned to be carried out by HQC Company, which has extensive experience in the field of design, procurement and construction projects, with the support provided by Azerbaijani companies.
The cost of the project, according to initial estimates, is approximately $4 billion. The ING Bank of the Netherlands, the State Development Bank of China and the Russian Gazprombank act as financial advisers to SOCAR GPC. The US Vinson & Elkins Company are international legal consultants, and PSG Company is engaged as a legal consultant in Azerbaijan.
The final investment decision on the SOCAR GPC plant will be made in the fourth quarter of 2019.
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