SOCAR Türkiye Enerji AŞ, a Turkish subsidiary of The State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), and Turkish fertilizer and chemicals firm Gübretaş have signed a letter of intent to discuss setting up a joint venture in Turkey for the sale and purchase of urea.
The envisaged partnership would be a 50:50 venture. The urea would be imported from SOCAR’s newly-operational plant at Sumgayit, Azerbaijan (GM Jan. 18, p. 28), and from other producers in geographical proximity, according to a Gübretaş filing on Turkey’s Public Disclosure Platform (KAP). The filing indicated that the urea would be sold to the Turkish domestic market and to foreign markets.
SOCAR said the commercial details of the planned joint venture will be disclosed after signing the final agreement with the partner company.
SOCAR’s Sumgayit combined ammonia-urea complex started commercial operation in January (GM Jan. 18, p. 28). It has urea capacity for 2,000 mt/d – around 650,000-660,000 mt/y, according to the producer. Some 70 percent of the urea output is intended for export (GM Nov. 22, 2017).