Turkey signs largest fund deal for refinery

ISTANBUL - Anadolu Agency

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız (L) receives a plaque from SOCAR head Rövnag Abdullayev (C) and Socar Turkey head Kenan Yavuz (R). AA Photo

SOCAR Turkey, the Azerbaijani energy giant’s Turkish venture, has signed a $3.3 billion credit deal for its STAR refinery project, marking Turkey’s largest and longest-term financing deal for its first privately built oil refinery.

Speaking at the signature ceremony in Istanbul on June 6, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız told reporters that the deal did not require a Treasury guarantee, and the fact that 23 international banks from Japan to the U.S. had contributed their support indicated the level of international confidence in Turkey’s political stability.

Industry Minister Fikri Işık, who also attended the ceremony, recalled that the refinery investment was the private sector’s largest ever in the country.

SOCAR is building the $5.5 billion Star refinery to supply feedstock to petrochemicals maker Petkim, which will help cut Turkey’s dependence on imported refined oil products.

The Star plant in Aliağa on the Aegean coast is expected to have an annual capacity of 10 million tons, 1.6 million tons of which will be naphtha that could feed the Petkim plant.