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SOCAR Turkey updates on Merkury project

Oil&Gas 21 January 2022 13:10 (UTC +04:00)
SOCAR Turkey updates on Merkury project

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.21

By Leman Zeynalova, Elchin Mehdiyev – Trend:

SOCAR Turkey, subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state oil company, is evaluating its final investment decision on Merkury project, the second petrochemical plant taking into account the conditions emerging in the period of COVID-19 pandemic, Head of the SOCAR Turkey Refinery and Petrochemicals Business Unit, director general of Petkim petrochemical complex Anar Mammadov said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

He pointed out that the company is in talks with partners on this important investment.

“We were planning to conduct a field survey for this petrochemical facility in 2020 and to make a final decision based on the results. However, we had to change our business plans due to the pandemic. We postponed, but didn’t cancel this important investments worth $2 billion due to the uncertainties caused by the pandemic,” Mammadov explained.

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 earlier said it 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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