Sonatrach issued the following announcement on Sept. 26.

SONATRACH, a national company, through its subsidiary SPIC (Sonatrach Petrolium Investment Corp.) and Turkish company CPEY, a subsidiary of Ronesans, signed on Thursday in Istanbul all the contracts needed to launch engineering studies of the petrochemical complex for the production of propylene and polypropylene (PDH-PP) in Ceyhan, Turkey.

The signing ceremony was attended by Minister of Energy Mohamed Arkab, Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, as well as the P-DG of SONATRACH, Rachid Hachichi and Ronesans CEO, Erman Ilicak, said a statement from the National Hydrocarbons Company.

Also present were directors from the project company, the contractor FEED GS (South Korea), the board PMC ISS (Italy), the licensor UOPL (UK), the licensor Lyondel Basell (Italy), as well as the Turkish local authorities, added the same source.

"This event represents the culmination of two years of continuous work by teams from both sides," said the statement, adding that Sonatrach and Ronesans had, on August 19, 2019, created the project company, a mixed company under Turkish law named "Ceyhan Polipropilen Uretim Anonim? irket" with a shareholding structure of 34% for SPIC and 66% for CPEY.

The purpose of this project company is, according to the same source, the design, engineering, supply, construction and operation of a production complex of 450 thousand tons per year of polypropylene at the industrial zone level. of Ceyhan, dedicated to the development of petrochemicals.

According to SONATRACH, the investment of this project is estimated at about 1.4 billion US dollars. It will be financed in "Project Finance" mode, without the use of shareholder guarantees, nearly 70% by banks and 30% by shareholders.

SONATRACH and Ronesans have "diligently deployed all the necessary efforts to ensure the success of this project, particularly with regard to the property tax base allocated to the industrial zone, supply of the raw material + propane + to the project provided by Sonatrach to the project. horizon 2040, tax benefits granted to the project by two decrees signed by the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan ".

This project represents a "strategic interest" for Turkey as for Algeria. For Turkey, because this project will make it the world's first petrochemical unit and is considered a precursor for the development of petrochemicals in this country.

In addition, the project will meet a significant demand for petrochemicals in the region and seize the opportunity of a potential polypropylene market of more than two million tons per year, located at a hundred kilometers from the project site. said the statement.

For Algeria, this project reinforces SONATRACH's investments in the field of transformation, a strategic option adopted in its SH2030 vision, after that of Arzew, and also reflects the desire for its international deployment with particular importance since it is the first project out of Algeria with such a capacity, which will place the national company among the actors of the polypropylene production industry.

This project will also enable SONATRACH to secure a long-term outlet for Algerian propane up to 2040 for a quantity of 540 thousand tons per year, and to benefit from dividends as shareholder up to 34% in the project, said the same source.

Original source: https://sonatrach.com/actualites/signature-des-contrats-des-etudes-dengineering-du-futur-complexe-petrochimique-algero-turc