Page 49 - TURKRptMay19

4.4 Fixed investment
Azerbaijan’s Socar to invest $1.5bn in establishing petrochemical R&D centre in Turkey. The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (Socar) is to invest $1.5bn in establishing a petrochemical research and development (R&D) centre in Turkey, Azerbaijani and Turkish media outlets have reported.
The centre will be located on the Aliaga peninsula, near Izmir, on the Aegean coast, where Socar-controlled major petrochemical producer Petkim has its production complex and Socar last year opened Turkey’s first new refinery since 1975, partly to provide raw materials for Petkim. The refinery, named STAR, cost $6.3bn and was a reaffirmation that Azerbaijan is, and intends to remain, the biggest foreign investor in Turkey. Baku is also behind big regional gas pipeline and railway investments that traverse the territory of its big neighbour, which boasts a population of 81mn compared to Azerbaijan’s 10mn.
Anar Mammadov, general manager of SOCAR Turkey Real Estate and Administrative Construction, told Daily Sabah that Socar’s investments in Turkey were valued at around $15bn to date.
"The total planned investment is around $20bn. Therefore, we plan to invest the remaining amount in the next three to four years," he reportedly said.
"We aim to complete the [R&D] project toward the end of 2020. Construction will start this year," he was also cited as saying by the daily.
Socar acquired Petkim in 2008 for around $2bn.
4.5 Labour and income
4.5.1 Labour market, unemployment dynamics
49 TURKEY Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com