Azerbaijan to commission rigs for polypropylene production

Azerbaijan is planning to commission rigs for the production of polypropylene and high density polyethylene on the territory of Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park in 2016-2017.

It was announced by Mukhtar Babayev, the Head of Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR’s Azerkimya Production Association, the main manufacturer of chemical products in Azerbaijan last week.

He told Trend Agency that according to the plan, construction and commissioning of the new plants will take between two and two and one-half years.

Preparation is carried out and parts of the equipment have been already purchased. Contract works on production of high density polyethylene are underway as well.

“Under the plan, the rigs will be operational in 2016-2017,” Babayev said. “Although a review of the plan is possible, but we do not know in which direction this review will be made.”

Babayev had previously said that rigs for production of polypropylene will be commissioned first.

It is scheduled to accommodate 35-40 enterprises, which will create 10,000 new jobs on the industrial area of Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park. The territory of Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park will be divided into two parts - the administrative and social and industrial zones.

In order to increase the investment attractiveness of the park, its residents are exempt from income, land and property taxes for seven years. Also equipment and technology used in the park are exempt from value added tax. Two residents have already been registered there - SOCAR-Polimer and Azertekhnolayn limited liability companies.

The authorized capital of the SOCAR Polimer Company, which was established as part of the development of polymer production in Azerbaijan, was increased from 51 to 100 million manats. SOCAR, a 100 percent plant founder, sold 49 percent of the share capital to private companies.

SOCAR is keen on expanding operations in the retail oil products market abroad, and is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, marketing petroleum and petrochemical products in the domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to industry and the public in Azerbaijan.