Page 54 - TURKRptMay20

facilities in Aliaga, near Izmir. Socar acquired Petkim in 2008.
Across the world, petrochemical companies have converted production lines to make hand sanitizer and disinfectants that have proved in short supply in the fight to contain the pandemic.
With oil benchmarks trading at $20-30 per barrel, SOCAR and BP have decided to push back the final investment for the construction of a new petrochemical complex in western Turkey by a year, to the fourth quarter of 2021​, the head of SOCAR’s Turkish business, Zaur Gahramanov, ​told​ local media.
SOCAR and BP signed a heads of agreement (HoA) on the project, known as Mercury, in late 2018. The planned complex will be sited in Izmir Province on the shore of the Mediterranean, and will turn out 1.25mn tonnes per year of purified terephthalic acid (PTA), 840,000 tpy of paraxylene (PX) and 340,000 tpy of benzene at peak capacity. It will run on feedstock provided by SOCAR’s nearby STAR oil refinery and its Petkim petrochemicals plant.
The partners initially aimed to sanction the $1.8bn project by the end of 2019 but then postponed the decision until late 2020. They had hoped to break ground on construction as early as this year. Production was originally slated to begin before the end of 2023.
Mercury is set to be one of the biggest combined PTA, PX and aromatics complexes in the world. PTA is used to manufacture polyesters – a key product in Turkey’s growing textile and packaging industries that the country currently imports.
Petrochemicals are tipped to see rapid growth over the coming decades. But the sector has struggled over the last several years as a result of lacklustre global economic growth. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has further weakened its outlook. BP and SOCAR, which both rely predominately on oil and gas sales for their revenues, also have less available capital for new investments following the oil price crash.
The pair each have a 50% stake in Mercury. They are yet to announce an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the venture, despite holding a tender to select one early last year.
54​ TURKEY Country Report​ May 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com