Turkey's Petkim hits annual production record in 2010

03 January 2011 16:37  [Source: ICIS news]

PRAGUE (ICIS)--Turkey's Petkim achieved an annual production record in 2010 with output climbing above 3m tonnes for the first time in its 45-year history, the petrochemical company said on Monday.

Production amounted to approximately 3.2m tonnes compared to 2.9m tonnes in 2009, with the company last year achieving a plant utilisation capacity of 98%, it added.

The figures were in line with Petkim's initial progress in creating a $5bn (€3.75bn) petrochemical 'super site' by 2015 at Aliaga, near Izmir, on an Aegean coast peninsula, said Petkim CEO Kenan Yavuz.

"[Under Petkim majority shareholder] Socar & Turcas, we remain focused on a refinery-petrochemical integration on the 'Petkim peninsula'. We have plans at least to double production capacity of Petkim [by 2018], to grow in the logistics area, become the largest power producer in the region, and to adopt the petrochemical production cluster model, ...transforming Petkim into a global petrochemicals and energy super site,“ Yavuz said.

Petkim has engaged the services of Singapore-based consultants Jurong International to help create the Aegean petrochemical hub, with the intention of developing a blueprint similar to that behind the Jurong Island industrial zone in Singapore.

In June last year, Petkim announced it had signed a deal with Foster Wheeler for the front-end engineering design of a $4bn, 10m tonne/year refinery that would produce feedstock for a new 800,000 tonnes/year ethylene cracker that is central to the project.

Construction on the refinery should begin in the first half of this year, with completion targeted for mid-2014, Yavuz said.

($1 = €0.75)

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By: Will Conroy
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