SOCAR postpones construction of oil&gas, chemical plant

(Reuters) - Azeri state energy company SOCAR has delayed the completion of a major plant to process oil, gas and petrochemicals worth up to $16.5 billion near the capital Baku by four years until 2030 due to a lack of funds.

SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev told reporters that the construction of a gas processing plant and a petrochemicals plant worth $8.45 billion was now due to be completed by 2020 instead of 2017, while an oil refinery worth $8 billion was expected to be completed by 2030 and not 2026.

The new complex will replace SOCAR's two ageing downstream refineries - the Baku Oil Refinery and the Oil Refinery Azerneftyag, both in Baku, as well as the Garadagh Gas Processing Plant and facilities of chemicals firm "Azerikimya".

The facility will be built 60 kilometres south of Baku, at Sangachal, where Azerbaijan's main oil and gas pipelines reach the Caspian Sea.

"SOCAR has to revise terms of construction of a new oil refinery due to lack of finances as the company is involved in financing other major projects," Abdullayev said.

He said SOCAR would complete dismantling the Azerneftyag Oil Refinery by 2017 and will install 7 to 8 new facilities at the Baku Oil Refinery to produce high-octane petrol.

The annual capacity of oil refineries is set rise to 8 million tonnes of crude from 6 million tonnes currently.

Abdullayev added that SOCAR planned to invest 1 billion manats ($1.27 billion) of its own into the Baku Oil Refinery's modernisation.

SOCAR told Reuters earlier this year that the company planned to attract 70 percent of the funds for the project from investment firms and private companies, while the rest would be financed by Azerbaijan's $34-billion state oil fund.

The annual capacity of the gas processing plant is expected to be 12 billion cubic metres (bcm), while the petrochemical plant would produce about 800,000 tonnes of polyethylene and 300,000 tonnes of polypropylene.

Industry sources say that a new petrochemical complex would allow the country to profit from processing oil rather than exporting it.

Bakudaily.Az