Azerbaijan to Construct Petrochemical Complex with 12 bcm/a Demand
Azerbaijan is preparing to start construction of a giant petrochemical complex able to service a demand of 12 billion cubic meter per annum (bmc/a). The date of commencing this project is also simultaneous with exporting 16 bcm/a of gas to Turkey and EU, namely 2021.
The Vice-President of strategic development in Azerbaijan's state oil company (SOCAR) Tofig Gahramanov said in the sideline of 22nd international Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition and Caspian Power 2015, held in Baku, that SOCAR continues needed works to commence the Oil and Gas Processing Complex (OGPC) on time.
Gahramanov who serves also as the general manager of OGPC added that for acceleration of developing this project, SOCAR considers all options, like attracting the foreign investors.
He underlined that foreign companies are eager to take share in this project.
A source from SOCAR told Natural Gas Europe anonymously that a foreign company (or companies) can establish a joint venture with SOCAR to involve this project, but according to the strategic importance of OGPC, SOCAR wants to have at least a 51 percent share in that.
Another source who wished to remain unnamed also discussed the high possibility of Total SA joining as well.
Total has agreement with SOCAR to develop Azerbaijan’s Absheron gas field. The operator of this project is Total. “Regarding this fact that Total does not have share in the Southern Gas Corridor (South Caucasus-Trans Anatolian-Trans Adriatic pipelines) to transfer Absheron gas to Europe markets, then the output of this filed can be fed to OGPC," he said.
Total’s share in the Absheron gas field project is 40 percent while SOCAR and GDF Suez hold shares of 40 percent and 20 percent respectively.
The Absheron block lies under about 500 meters of water in the Caspian Sea, 100 kilometers from Baku. The field was discovered in 2011 and contains about 350 bcm of gas resources. The Absheron venture expects to produce 5 bcm of gas per year by 2021.
The Vice-President of Economic Issues in SOCAR Suleyman Gasimov told journalists on June 3 that some $7 billion in investment are needed for OGPC and the total costs of this project including the interest rate of credits which share 70 percent of needed investment would be around $8.45 billon. The remaining 30 percent of needed investment should be financed directly.
Production of 860,000 metric tons of petrochemical products from OGPC was projected by 2021.