Turkey's first and only integrated petrochemical plant, Petkim, a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), hit an all-time high in petrochemical production in 2019, a statement from the company said Monday.
Production at the company, located in the İzmir province in the Aegean region, increased by 24% compared to 2018 to hit 3.4 million tons, according to the statement.
Petkim's income reached TL 11.67 billion with a 25% increase, while the company's net profit stood at TL 764.2 million in 2019.
"The integration of the STAR refinery contributed to the results in a positive way," Anar Mammadov, head of SOCAR Turkey refining and petrochemicals department was quoted as saying in the statement.
He said that Petkim also received 759,000 tons of naphtha from the STAR Refinery, which became fully operational in 2019, after it was launched in October 2018 and has been carried out with an investment of $6.3 billion by SOCAR Turkey.
The STAR refinery and Petkim are located in the same area in the Aliağa peninsula of İzmir.
"Instead of importing naphtha from different parts of the world, we now take it from the STAR refinery via pipeline thus increasing our efficiency, the security of supply and operational capability," Mammadov said.
SOCAR stands as one of the largest foreign direct investors in Turkey, as its investment will reach up to $19.5 billion once all its ongoing projects have been completed.
Besides Petkim and the STAR refinery, its other investments include the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline project (TANAP), which transports Caspian gas through Turkey and onward to Europe; and Petlim, the largest container port on Turkey's Aegean coast as well as a distributor of natural gas.
The STAR refinery stands as the largest investment made by a foreign direct investor in the country. SOCAR has plans for another petrochemical facility investment in İzmir in partnership with British Petroleum (BP) with an estimated cost of $1.8 billion.
