Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 14
By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:
Total investment by Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR in Turkey has already reached $12.6 billion, Murat LeCompte, Chief External Affairs Officer at SOCAR’s subsidiary SOCAR Turkey Enerji A.S., told Trend in his first interview with Azerbaijani media.
He noted that SOCAR executes all of its investments in Turkey through SOCAR Turkey, its affiliate which began its operations in 2008 with acquisition of Petkim.
“SOCAR Turkey’s aim is to place Turkey among the world’s most important energy corridors on the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey. SOCAR’s investments in Turkey are also crucial for strengthening Azerbaijan’s economy. Operating in petrochemicals, a critical industry for Turkey, SOCAR Turkey increases its trade volume day by day without feeling the impact of fluctuating oil prices,” said LeCompte.
He also reminded that the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) will carry Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas to Europe.
“The Azerbaijani natural gas will play a very important role in meeting Europe’s need for natural gas in the upcoming period, as in 2020 TANAP will be providing 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe. Our goal is to effectively communicate these facts both to the public and to the relevant institutions.”
LeCompte added that among SOCAR Turkey’s projects are Petkim, Petlim, Petkim Wind Power Plant, STAR Oil Refinery scheduled for starting its operation in 2018, and large-scale investments such as TANAP, due to start the gas supply in 2018.
“Total worth of the investments has already climbed to $12.6 billion, and it is estimated to exceed $19.5 billion once all the current investments are completed. Building a second petrochemicals plant in the upcoming period is on our agenda. I believe that this would be a great investment for Turkey, which is suffering from a serious deficit in the petrochemicals industry, and it would also be very profitable for us in terms of increasing our market share,” he said.
SOCAR Turkey Enerji A.S. is one of the largest investors in the Turkish economy. Its consolidated turnover is expected to reach $15 billion in 2018 and the company will become the second largest industrial company in Turkey.