Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held very significant talks during his recent official visit to Turkey and important agreements were made which may serve as the beginning of new projects.

The remarks were made by Kenan Yavuz on November 21 in his recent interview with the Azerbaijani media in Istanbul.

The strategic partnership between Turkey and Azerbaijan is strengthened and actively continues thanks to the implemented projects, the head of SOCAR Turkey Enerji and board member of Petkim Petrokimya Holding said.

"SOCAR has become the largest investor in the history of the Turkish economy, and implements projects, the financial costs of which could reach $20 billion. These projects will represent Azerbaijan to the world as a supplier of oil and natural gas. At the same time investments in projects based on advanced scientific technology will bring Azerbaijan and Turkey to a new level," he said.

Yavuz went on to note that along with such major projects as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, and the acquisition of Petkim, Azerbaijan is currently implementing a $9.5 billion project on the construction of Star refinery in Izmir, Turkey, based on energy, petrochemical and logistics integration.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline carries crude oil from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli oil fields in the Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean coast.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline transports gas produced from the Shah Deniz gas condensate field located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. The gas is supplied to Georgia and Turkey.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway which is being built in accordance with an inter-governmental agreement reached by Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, will increase the flow of containers and other types of cargo from Asia to Europe. Around 30 million tons of cargo a year is to be transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line.

According to Yavuz, over the next five years SOCAR will be the second largest industrial company in Turkey and will be able to move forward in 2023.
He also said that some $5.5 billion will be invested in the Star refinery project, the construction of which will be completed in 2017.

"Thus we will become the owners of the oil refinery complex, which is of strategic and economic importance for Turkey. Today, such refineries in Turkey are owned by Tupraş company, and so we will become the second player in this sphere," Yavuz said.

The Star refinery's processing capacity is projected at 10 million tons of crude oil, and it will be capable of refining such oil grades as Azeri Light, Kirkuk and Urals.
The head of SOCAR Turkey Enerji went on to say that construction of Turkey's largest container port in Izmir, which began three months ago, is being accelerated. The project is implemented jointly with the largest container company in the world AP Moller-Maersk Group.

The initial capacity of the Petkim container port will be 1.5 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit).

Yavuz also said that these and other projects will serve political stability and peace in the region and are important not only for Azerbaijan and Turkey, but also for Europe, and will open the way for new initiatives.

According to the 2012 results, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Turkey amounted to $2.12 billion.