BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov.29
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
It is planned to make the final decision on Merkury project, the second petrochemical investment of the Turkish subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR in Turkey in Q4 2021, Trend quoted head of the SOCAR Turkey Refinery and Petrochemicals Business Unit, director general of Petkim petrochemical complex Anar Mammadov as saying.
“While Petkim is growing rapidly and profitably, preparations are underway to launch the projects, which were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rest of the year we will focus on new projects and investments for sustainable production. We will work on the ways to use clean and renewable energy resources more intensively in our production processes. Our digital transformation, which greatly contributed to our operational agility during the period of the pandemic, will also be at the top of our agenda,” he said.
bp and SOCAR Turkey signed a heads of agreement (HoA) in 2018 to evaluate the creation of a joint venture that would build and operate a world-scale petrochemicals complex in Turkey. However, bp left the project after abandoning all petrochemical investments.
SOCAR Turkey is in talks with the UK INEOS and other investors on Merkury project.
The facility will be located at SOCAR Turkey’s Private Industrial Zone in Aliaga, which includes STAR refinery and major Petkim petrochemicals site.
The complex will produce 1.25 million tons of purified terephthalic acid (PTA), 840,000 tons of P-Xylene (PX) and 340,000 tons of benzene annually. The plant will reduce Turkey's PTA import to zero.
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