State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) subsidiary Azerikimya Production Union (APU) has let a contract to a division of Technip SA, Paris, for work related to the ongoing modernization and reconstruction of APU’s ethylene and polyethylene (PE) production plant in Sumgait, north of Baku.
Selected for its substantial experience in rebuilding as well as licensing technology for pyrolysis plants, Technip Italy will provide detailed engineering and procurement (EP) services for the Sumgait plant revamp, which will include both modernization of existing units as well as construction of new ones, said SOCAR Pres. Rovnag Abdullayev at the Mar. 9 contract signing in Baku.
Reconstruction of the ethylene and PE plant, which will increase overall production capacity at the plant, will provide feedstock for the company’s PE and polypropylene projects in the nearby Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park (OGJ Online, Feb. 5, 2016; Apr. 7, 2015), as well as enable Azerbaijan to boost its volume of petrochemical exports, Abdullayev said.
Previously scheduled to be completed in 2018, the project now is due to be commissioned in phases through 2019, SOCAR said.
A value of the EP contract was not disclosed.
Azerikimya previously entered two units into operation at the Sumgait ethylene and PE plant, including a 87,600-tonne/year unit for the desulfurization of liquefied gas and a 120,000-tpy installation for the hydrogenation of butylene-butadiene fractions (OGJ Online, Oct. 26, 2015).
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
