Socar Polymer: The polypropylene plant launched by two presidents

On 18 July 2018, the SOCAR Polymer company celebrated the launch of the Polypropylene plant constructed at the Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park. The plant was launched by President Ilham Aliyev at the opening ceremony attended by government officials, and the representatives of diplomatic missions, business circles and partner companies of the SOCAR Polymer Project which was implemented through the financial, intellectual, physical and consultancy inputs from the partners.

President Ilham Aliyev who had supported the SOCAR Polymer Project since its first stage, congratulated the company, its partners and the Azerbaijani people on the launch of the plant which is producing Azerbaijan's first ever polypropylene, thus, relieving the republic of the necessity to import PP and enriching potential export revenue opportunities.

President Aliyev addressed the guests of the event with an opening speech congratulating all those present on the completion of construction and launch of production.

An honored guest to the republic, the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella attended the opening ceremony of the PP plant to celebrate this productive outcome of successful cooperation between Italian and Azerbaijani companies. The Italian President said "Today we can see what high technologies this plant possesses. Of course, we see here that, along with its technical capacity, the plant has both a developed infrastructure and beautiful design. This is a very important project, because this plant strengthens the country's industrial potential in terms of manufacturing high-value-added products. Besides, this project certainly once again demonstrates how powerful the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Italy is."

Among the distinguished guests of the ceremony were the Chairman of the Management Board of Gazprombank Mr. Andrey Akimov, the Maire Tecnimont Chairman Mr. Fabrizio Di Amato, the Vice President of Fluor Mr. van Heyningen, the General Manager of Ustay Mr. Murat Ustay, and the representatives of Vitol and three largest holdings of the republic: Pasha, Gilan, and Azersun Holdings.

Approximately $800 mln USD worth SOCAR Polymer Project was financed by 60% through a loan from Gazprombank, and by 40% through investments made by SOCAR, Vitol and three largest holdings of the republic: Pasha, Gilan, and Azersun Holdings.

The engineering, procurement and construction works under the Project have been performed by the Italian Maire Tecnimont company under close supervision of the Integrated Project Management Team (IMPT) led by PMC managers from the FLUOR company (Netherlands).

After the launch ceremony, President Aliyev made a tour of the plant to see the main units and installations. During the tour, the General Manager of SOCAR Polymer Farid Jafarov presented information about the technological process, the design characteristics of the plant, and the plans for the initial production period before full capacity is reached.