Azerbaijan's Ethylene-Polyethylene plant resumes production
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By Nigar Abbasova
Sumgait ethylene-polyethylene plant belonging to SOCAR’s Azerikimya Production Union has resumed its production, which was earlier halted due to implementation of maintenance operations at the plant.
Director of the plant Oqtay Niftaliyev said that the suspension of operations, will not affect the volume of production, which is planned for 2016.
“We are planning to produce not less than 104,000 tons of production, which will be similar to the volume of the last year. We have already launched the process of investing in modernization of production, as well as construction of pyrolytic stoves, storage rooms and hydrogenous units. The works are planned to be completed within one and a half year, while our main objective is to provide raw materials for SOCAR Polymer project,” he said.
The capacity of the plant is expected to increase up to 180,000 tons of production per year (30-40 percent) due to planned modernization process. Some 90 percent of Azerikimya’s output is realized abroad.
“We produced some 104,000 tons of production last year, while some 92,000 tons of the volume were directed to the foreign market, including Bulgaria, Germany, Switzerland, China, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey. Polyethylene is in high demand in the world market, whilst after the commissioning the plant it is planned to direct as much as 130,000 tons of the planned production for the demand of SOCAR Polymer and export only 50,000 tons,” he said.
Syndicate's long-term development plan, includes upgrade and replacement of older facilities with those that meet international standards as well as improvement of the variety and quality of products. Azerkimya earlier signed an engineering and procurement services agreement with Italy’s Technip Company on upgrade, which was also aimed at providing raw materials for the company's polypropylene-polyethylene plant, as well as boosting its export capacity.
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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
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