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SOCAR President: Our target is to build a refinery of 10-15 million tons at Ceyhan Port

10 December 2007 15:27 (UTC +04:00)

Erdal Aksoy, the board chair of consortium member Turcas Petrol, said it is slated to invest $10 billion to boost Petkimâ€™s capacity within 7-8 years.
According to him, $2 billion investment at the first phase will double the companyâ€™s capacity and create necessary infrastructure to produce chemicals Turkey needs. It is also planned to build two power plants nearby to provide electricity to the petrochemicals maker.
Aksoy also revealed the reasons why Turkeyâ€™s Turcas, in a consortium with Azeri energy company SOCAR and Saudi Arabia-based Injaz offered triple as much as the value of the company in privatization.
â€œWe are criticized. We didnâ€™t pay Petkimâ€™s present price but we gave its after-a-few-years price. Petkim will be an important center in terms of energy, processing transportation and human resources. It is not easy to vie with a project powered by energy powers- Azerbaijan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia,â€ he added.
Rovnag Abdullayev, President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), said the large investments will make Petkim the regionâ€™s petrochemical giant.
â€œOur target is to build a oil refinery to have an annual capacity of 10 million to 15 million tonnes a year. This means investing a lot in Turkey,â€ he added.
SOCAR-Turcas/Injas alliance privatized Petkim last month. /APA/