Moscow, May 12 – IA Neftegaz.RU. SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, SOCAR) has suspended work on the construction project of the Mercury petrochemical complex (PCC) in Turkey.
This was stated by the President of SOCAR Turkey Refining and Petrochemical Business Unit (subsidiary of SOCAR Turkiye Enerji) and General Director of Petkim A. Mammadov.
Theses of A. Mammadov:
- the goal of this project was to sell the reformate in the amount of 1 million tons produced at the STAR refinery in the domestic market of Turkey, leaving the added value in the country ;
- we were forced to export it , because there were no buyers of this product in Turkey;
- In this regard, we proposed to implement the project for the construction of the NHC Mercury, but at the moment, work in this direction has been stopped.
Reasons for stopping work on the project
- the project was planned to be implemented together with the British company BP , but it completely withdrew from the global petrochemical business;
- market conditions have seriously changed over the past 5 years and, accordingly, the initial estimates of the project have also changed.
According to A. Mammadov, Mercury remains on the agenda and work on it will resume when acceptable market conditions appear.
SOCAR planned to make the final investment decision ( FID ) on the construction project of NHC Mercury in Turkey in 2022. The company considered 2 options for its implementation:
- by engaging a partner with experience in the petrochemical industry;
- jointly with a financial partner with equal shares of participation.
After BP, negotiations were held with the British INEOS , which acquired BP’s petrochemical assets, and with other investors.
Work will resume when acceptable market conditions emerge.
Source: https://neftegaz.ru/news/neftechim/779558
Author: A. Honcharenko
