Turkey's Tupras to stay away from petchems unless market improves

26 October 2010 17:33  [Source: ICIS news]

PRAGUE (ICIS)--Turkey's Tupras has no plans to move back into substantial petrochemical production unless the market significantly improves and investment priorities change, the company said on Tuesday.

The styrene butadiene rubber (capacity 33,000 tonne/year) and CIS polybutadiene rubber (20,000 tonne/year) units within Tupras's loss-making Korfez petrochemicals business were indefinitely closed two years ago on market conditions, with the company opting to only keep open its carbon black line (40,000 tonne/year).

The petrochemical business had been merged with Tupras' Izmit refinery, the resources of which were being concentrated on the $1.8bn ($2.5bn) Residuum Upgrading Project, the company added.

Residuum involved increasing Tupras' value-added earnings by transforming low value black products such as fuel oil into more valuable white products such as Euro V-compliant gasoline and diesel, which were in short supply in Turkey, it said.

Tupras' other interests in the petrochemical sphere were restricted to the naphtha and clarifed oils which its Izmir refinery produced for the petrochemical industry, it added.

The company's naphtha production in 2009 amounted to 107,000 tonnes compared to 532,000 tonnes the previous year.

($1 = €0.72)

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By: Will Conroy
+44 20 8652 3214

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