Azerbaijan to Turkey through the eyes of Jamestown Foundation

Azerbaijan is the largest investor Turkish economy, and every year its presence in the face of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR or SOCAR) is expanding.

According to a senior fellow at Washington Foundation Jamestown Foundation (specializing in strategic research of Eurasia) Vladimir Socor (http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=40640&tx_ttnews[backPid]=7&cHash=c92822b0cd68d231f9ae5d16d3fa4f30), yesterday the Copenhagen Danish subsidiary organization of the Dutch company Moeller-Maersk and SOCAR signed an agreement for the construction of a giant port in Izmir. At a ceremony attended by the Prime Minister of Denmark, Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Turkey - Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Most stocks in the petrochemical holding Petrokimya (Petkim) SOCAR owns in partnership with Moeller-Maersk (the Netherlands). According to the agreement, through 2015 will be put first and foremost and the Aegean port terminal with an investment of $ 300 million with an initial capacity of 1.5 million (capacity of up to 4 million) containers. The Danish side will take on the handling of goods, delivery of high-tech equipment and vehicles. The project is designed for operation and management of the terminal for at least 28 years.

Erdogan said Aliaga is the first modern multi comparable to global peers, the port of Turkey, which is experiencing rapid industrial expansion. Its capacity will exceed the capacity of local ports, which will allow him to go to a number of world leaders. It will be handled primarily with oil cargo.

Petkim today is the largest petrochemical plant in Turkey (market share in the segment of approximately 25%), which allows for about 3 million tons of petrochemical products per year, including ethylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, as well as fabrics, dyes, detergents, etc. Some time ago the plant had obsolete and outdated technology, and investment by SOCAR gave it a second life.

In 2008, the state-owned company acquired a 51% stake in Petkim and exploitation rights for $ 2.04 billion in 2008, and then increased its share to 61% by paying an additional $ 169 million in 2012 (a 39% stake Petkim outstanding by Stock Exchange).

In addition, the President of Azerbaijan 25 October 2011 laid the foundation of another (oil) plant with a capacity of processing 10 million tons of oil and more than a year. Putting into operation is planned in two phases, up to 2017, and investments have totaled approximately $ 6 billion. The company's shareholders are again SOCAR and Turcas (Turkish fuel retailer), with respective shares in 81.5% and 18.5%. 30% of the investment will come from its own funds, and 70% - by bank loans.

SOCAR opened a plant in the same place "Ulduz" to produce ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel, jet fuel and gasoline power plant of 612 MW and a logistics center total investment value of $ 2 billion (total $ 8 billion).

Given the implementation of the construction of the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline, the investment will be $ 14-16 billion. The author notes that there has not been so much foreign direct investment in Turkey before. - 17D-