BP, Azerbaijan’s SOCAR mull 1.25m tonne/year PTA joint venture in Turkey

LONDON (ICIS)–BP and Azerbaijan’s crude oil major SOCAR’s subsidiary in Turkey are mulling the creation of a joint venture for purified terephthalic acid (PTA) with a 1.25m tonnes/year production capacity, the UK’s oil and petrochemicals major said on Thursday.

The proposed facility would be based in Aliaga in west Turkey, next to SOCAR’s STAR refinery, and would come onstream in 2023.

A final investment decision (FID) is expected in 2019.

Apart from 1.25m tonnes/year of PTA, the joint venture would also produce 840,000 tonnes/year of paraxylene (PX) and 340,000 tonnes/year of benzene, BP said.

Turkey’s petrochemicals major Petkim, of which SOCAR Turkey is the majority shareholder with a 51% stake, also operates a complex in the area.

“[The] Integration with SOCAR’s facilities and infrastructure [is] expected to reduce project costs significantly,” said BP.

“Expanding our immense refining and petrochemical complex, built at the gateway to world markets on the Aegean coast of Turkey, we aim to continue to contribute to the economies of the two brother countries – Turkey and Azerbaijan,” said SOCAR Turkey’s chairman Vagif Aliyev.

PTA is largely used in the production of polyester fibre, which in turn is used to make fabrics for apparel and home furnishings such as bed sheets, bedspreads, curtains and draperies.

PX is a feedstock for PTA, which apart from polyester fibres also goes into production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles.

Benzene is used to produce a number of intermediates that are used to create polymers, solvents and detergents.

Pictured: SOCAR’s STAR refinery in Turkey; the petrochemicals joint venture with BP would be located nearby
Source: SOCAR

Clarification: Clarifies product in introduction