Petkim to become largest port in Turkey’s Aegean region
By Rufiz Hafizoglu
Azerbaijan today fully ensures its energy security and makes a
significant contribution to ensuring the energy security Turkey.
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) also takes serious
steps in this process. The company is involved in a number of major
projects in Turkey, including the construction of TANAP, Star
refinery, and others. SOCAR has 61.32-percent share in Turkey’s
Petkim Petrochemical Holding.
In an interview with the Trend Agency, Sadettin Korkut, general
manager of Turkish Petkim Petrochemical Holding spoke about the
company’s goals in Turkey, the process of construction of a
container port and other topics.
Petkim’s goals in Turkey
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) continues to implement
a number of important projects on Petkim peninsula as part of the
“Value-Site-2023” project, said Korkut, adding that these projects
mainly strengthen the role of Petkim which marks its 50th
anniversary.
He said that the construction of Star refinery, the total volume of
investments in which equals $5.6 billion, will be completed in
2018.
Star refinery will also allow to reduce Petkim’s dependence on
imported raw materials which is very important for increasing
effectiveness, according to the general manager.
As is known, 23 international and local banks were involved in
financing this project, said Korkut. “The goal is to increase our
share in the domestic market from 20 percent to 25 percent by
2023.”
“Currently, we are working on a number of projects,” said Sadettin
Korkut, adding that the implementation of Star refinery project
will strengthen Petkim’s potential even more and allow it to
commission new facilities.
The annual naphtha production volume, used by Petkim as the main
raw material, will hit 1.66 million metric tons at the Star
refinery.
Along with naphtha, the new oil refinery will produce diesel fuel
with ultra-low sulfur in the amount of 5.95 million metric tons,
aviation kerosene - 500,000 metric tons, reformate - 500,000 metric
tons, petroleum coke - 630,000 metric tons, liquefied gas - 240,000
metric tons, mixed xylene - 415,000 metric tons, olefin LPG -
75,000 metric tons and 145,000 metric tons of sulfur. The refinery
will not produce petrol and fuel oil.
It is planned to refine Azeri Light, Kerkuk and URALS oil at the
plant.
Earlier, Kenan Yavuz , head of SOCAR Turkey Energy, board member of
Petkim Petrochemical Holding told Trend that following the
implementation of the projects in Petkim, 17,000 temporary jobs
will be created during the construction by 2018 and around 2,500
people will be permanently employed.
Process of construction of container port
Very little time left for the construction of the container port
which has been lasting two years, the general manager said, adding
that the work on creating the infrastructure is almost
complete.
He said that the first phase of construction of the container port
will be completed in the last quarter of 2015, while the second
phase will be completed in late 2016.
The general manager said that the total cost of the project is $400
million.
The initial capacity of the port will be 1.5 million TEU
(twenty-foot equivalent unit), while the port’s potential is 4
million TEU, according to Korkut.
Furthermore, he said that the berth of the port is 700 meters. “It
will be the third largest port in Turkey and the first largest one
in the country’s Aegean region.”
This port will allow to turn Turkey’s Aegean region into a
logistics center, according to Korkut.
“Currently, we don’t plan to make investments in other projects
except for the construction of the container port,” he added.
Turkey’s Akbank allocated $212 million worth loan in July 2014 to
Petlim Limancilik A.S., where Petkim Petrochemical Holding holds a
70-percent share.
Once the port’s construction is completed, APM Terminals will get
the right to manage the port for 28 years.
Goldman Sachs investment bank has acquired 30-percent share in
Petlim Limancilik A.S. for $250 million.
Petkim Petrochemical Complex and the Dutch APM Terminals signed an
agreement in March 2013 to construct the container port with the
capacity of 1.5 million TEU. The capacity of the new port will
exceed the capacity of Alsancak port by around 50 percent.
Energy supply of Petkim projects
“We started to work on a wind farm project with the capacity of 51
megawatt in 2015,” said the general manager. “It is planned to
commission the farm in mid-2016.”
“After completing the construction of the wind farm, we will be
able to meet 12 percent of Petkim’s electricity demand,” said
Korkut.
He said that the project’s cost is 55 million euros.
“The commissioning of Petkim wind farm will not only allow to
provide Petkim peninsula with electricity, but also make a
significant contribution to the development of alternative energy
sphere in Turkey,” Korkut added.
He said that French Alstom, the largest company in the world
carries out work on constructing Petkim wind farm. “The
construction of the wind farm will provide our strategic projects
with electricity.”
“We intend to construct the wind farm by using foreign loans which
will be allocated at least for a 10-year period,” Korkut added.
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