BAKU, Azerbaijan, Apr.6
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
While many petrochemical plants were experiencing raw material shortages due to the coronavirus-caused disruptions in the global supply chain, Petkim continued to receive naphtha it needed from the STAR Refinery without any problems, Head of the SOCAR Turkey Refinery and Petrochemicals Business Unit and General Manager of Petkim Anar Mammadov told Trend.
“One of the reasons for the STAR Refinery’s establishment was to meet Petkim’s need for naphtha. STAR Refinery, an extremely strategic investment project implemented in the context of SOCAR Turkey’s refinery-petrochemical integration vision, is located in Aliaga, Izmir, in the same area as Petkim.
Petkim regularly receives naphtha at high quality via a pipeline. We realized the importance of integration between the two facilities during the pandemic.
Thanks to the integrated operation of Petkim and STAR Refinery, domestic producers didn’t face any problems in raw material supplies and thereby SOCAR Turkey once again proved to be a reliable producer in Turkey,” said Mammadov.
Star Refinery, with investment value of $6.3 billion came on stream in October 2018. Around $3.3 billion of the project’s cost was covered by loans. The total investment in Star Refinery is expected to stand at $7 billion.
The annual processing capacity of Star Refinery stood at 10 million tons. It meets around 25 percent of Turkey’s refined oil products. The refinery is able to process 214,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Petkim is the first and the sole integrated petrochemical facility in Turkey. It is the largest exporter in the Aegean region. Petkim’s production capacity is 3.6 million tons per year. The petrochemical complex produces around 60 different types of products and exports to 78 countries. The complex meets about 20 percent of Turkey’s demand for petrochemical products.
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