Baku, September 1, AZERTAC

The consolidated turnover of SOCAR Turkey Enerji will reach $15 billion in 2018, Kenan Yavuz, the head of the SOCAR Turkey Enerji, told journalists.

He said the Company will become the second largest industrial company in Turkey by 2018 with 5,000 employees and $3 billion worth of export potential, and it aims to become the largest industrial company of Turkey by 2023.

"To date, investments of SOCAR in Turkey's economy have exceeded $10 billion as part of the Value-Site project in the Petkim Peninsula. In the period from 2008 to 2018 investments of SOCAR in Turkey, including investments in the TANAP [Trans-Anatolian pipeline] project will exceed $20 billion. Thus, SOCAR is the largest investor in Turkey's economy. The total investment portfolio of SOCAR in Turkey amounts to $20 billion," Yavuz noted.

He also noted Turkish Petkim Petrochemical Complex has increased its production capacity from 3.2 to 3.6 million tons per year.

Petkim Petrochemical Complex, which includes 15 major factories and seven auxiliary units, manufactures plastic packages, fabrics, PVC, and detergents, and is the only Turkish producer of such products.

A quarter of Petkim's products are exported to foreign markets.

SOCAR Turkey Enerji A.S and SOCAR International DMCC OGG acquired a 10.32 percent stake in Petkim on March 30, 2012, increasing SOCAR's stake in the company to 61.32 percent; some 38.67 percent is in free circulation on the Istanbul Stock Exchange.

Yavuz went on to add that Petlim container port in Turkey's Izmir city will start receiving containers in January 2016.

"Petlim container port will become the third largest port in Turkey and the largest one in the Aegean Sea. It will be able to receive the largest container ships carrying up to 11,000 containers. Some $400 million was invested in the construction of the port, some $300 million of which was invested by Petkim", Yavuz added.

The initial capacity of the port will be 1.5 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit), which will be increased to four million TEU in the future. Its capacity will exceed the capacity of Aslandzhak port by about 50 percent.

The Dutch company APM Terminals, one of the world's leading port operators, will enjoy the right to manage the port for 28 years while the port will belong to Turkey.

"SOCAR Turkey Enerji plans to start production at the Star refinery in March 2018" Yavuz further said.

The cost for building Star refinery is estimated at about $5.6 billion and will be completed in 2018.

"Some $3.2 billion was invested by 23 international and local banks, and 2.4 billion by SOCAR. In addition, it is expected that Petkim will acquire a stake of about eight percent in Star refinery"

"As of today, some 29 percent of construction work has been completed. The volume of investment amounts to $2 billion. About $300 million of this amount was paid by the banks at the expense of project financing. The refinery will employ around 10,000 people at the investment phase until the end of 2017. The start of production at the plant is planned in March 2018. After commissioning 1,000 people will be provided with jobs on a permanent basis," Yavuz said.

Once completed, the Star refinery will be the first refinery to start operations in Turkey since 1972. This project will process an estimated 10 million tons of crude oil per year and is expected to dramatically reduce Turkey's dependence on foreign energy imports.

Star refinery will be capable of refining Azeri Light, Kirkuk, and Urals oil grades. The refinery is mostly intended to create a resource base for Petkim Holding.

The annual naphtha production volume used by Petkim as the main raw material, will hit 1.66 million metric tons at the Star refinery.