SOCAR to attract foreign banks for building carbamide plant
By Nigar Abbasova
The construction of SOCAR’s carbamide plant, located in Sumgait, the third largest city of Azerbaijan, is well underway.
The company intends to attract Germany’s Deutsche Bank, France’s Société Generale and Italy’s UniCredit to finance the construction of the plant.
Plant’s Director Khayal Jafarov told reporters that some 205 million manats ($ 123.4 million) were allocated from Azerbaijan’s state budget at the initial stage, while a loan worth some €201 million ($ 223.8 million) was attracted afterward.
He mentioned that negotiations are currently being conducted on the allocation of additional €300 million ($ 334.05 million).
The Export Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank), an official export credit agency providing comprehensive export loan and guarantee programs, will act as the main creditor bank.
Jafarov said that some €500 million (including the same €201 million) will be attracted, with some 51 percent of the sum being provided by Korea’s Eximbank, and additional €249 million being a syndicated loan allocated by Germany’s Deutsche Bank, France’s Société Generale and Italy’s UniCredit.
The loan from the three commercial banks will be issued under the guarantee of the Korean Eximbank. The Azerbaijani side, in turn, will provide state guarantees for the Korean side.
Jafarov mentioned that a part of the loan will be used for repayment of the bridging loan, which is beneficial for the Korean bank too, as the short-term loan will turn into the long-term loan.
South Korea’s Samsung Engineering is the general contractor of the plant's construction. Dutch Stamicarbon and Danish Haldor Topsoe are licensors, while Finland’s Neste Jacobs Oy is project management consultant.
Talking about the construction, he said that the process is expected to be implemented until late 2017. The production will be launched after implementation of test work and start-up adjustment work at the plant.
The plant is expected to produce about 1,200 tons of ammonium per day, while natural gas will be used as a raw material. Ammonium will be further used for the production of carbamide, the volume of which is expected to amount to 2,000 tons per day (some 700,000 tons per year). SOCAR expects to make high benefits and productivity from the plant, which is expected to generate profit within seven or eight years after its commissioning.
Moreover, the plant will provide new working places for some 2, 000 people.
--
Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz