SOCAR Turkey (Istanbul), a subsidiary of the State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), and BP today announced that they have signed a heads of agreement to evaluate the creation of a petrochemicals joint venture (JV) in Turkey.
The facilities are planned to be located in Turkey’s private industrial zone at Aliaga, the site of the recently inaugurated STAR refinery and of a Petkim’s petrochemical complex, both owned by SOCAR.
The proposed facilities would produce 1.25 million metric tons/year of purified terephthalic acid (PTA), 840,000 metric tons/year of para-xylene (p-xylene), and 340,000 metric tons/year of benzene. Following the signing of the agreement, the partners plan to start design work for the facility, which would allow for the integration of feedstock supplies from the STAR refinery and Petkim’s complex.
BP and SOCAR expect to work toward a potential final investment decision in 2019, which could result in start-up of the new plants in 2023. “If taken forward, this would be the largest integrated PTA, p-xylene, and aromatics complex in the Western Hemisphere and BP’s first major new aromatics platform since our Zhuhai site in China opened nearly 20 years ago. The combination of BP’s leading proprietary technology and integration with SOCAR’s new refinery could create an outstanding platform to serve Turkey’s growing polyester packaging and textiles industry,” said Luis Sierra, CEO of BP’s global aromatics unit.
By Natasha Alperowicz
Source: Chemical Week
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