Turkey has a diversified petrochemical sector. Private business
groups are involved in a wide range of activities in this sector.
Petrochemicals are produced both for local consumption and for export.
Petrochemical imports, necessary to meet the diverse requirements of
domestic industries, have risen in recent years.
The largest petrochemical combine in the country is Petrokimya
Holding A.S. (Petkim). One of the most profitable companies in Turkey
for years, Petkim was in late 2007 privatised with a Russian-Kazakh JV,
TransCentralAsia, having acquired a 51% stake in it. The sale, reported
to be worth $2 bn, as approved in late 2007 by Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, in his capacity as chairman of the High Council of
Privatisation. Years before that, a part of Petkim had been sold to the
private sector and the shares have since been traded on the Istanbul
Stock Exchange (see down19TurkPetChemMay8-06).
Before Petkim's privatisation, the petrochemicals industry in
Turkey had been undergoing a period of shake-up and consolidation, as a
result of two factors:
- Turkey's signing of the EU customs union agreement, which
became effective on Jan. 1, 1996; and
- the opening up of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS),
following the collapse of the Soviet Union, with key CIS members now
competing as exporters of petrochemical products to regional markets.
In the past ten years, however, CIS petrochemicals moving into
Turkey have had no serious effects on the sector or on Petkim's
profitability.
Petrokimya Holding: Before it privatisation, Petkim had been a
prominent venture among the State Economic Enterprises (SEEs), producing
petrochemicals, basic chemicals and plastics as well as being one of
Turkey's exporters.
Samuel Montagu of Britain had acted as adviser for the sale of the
company. One problem with Petkim was that it was over-staffed and some
of its units had been inefficient.
Petkim had three consecutive years of losses in 1992-93. Losses
amounted to TL1.4 trillion in 1993 and TL580 billion in 1992, incurred
mainly as a result of huge expenses in the form of loan repayments and
the low price for its products. But there was a turnaround in 1994 and
in the subsequent years.
Petkim made the highest profits in 1995 among companies listed on
the Istanbul Stock Exchange, amounting to TL22.73 trillion, compared
with about TL3.92 trillion in 1994. Since 1995, Petkim has been ranking
from fifth to seventh on the list of the top 500 Turkish companies
compiled by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry - following Tupras, Teas,
Tekel and Erdemir, all of which having been state enterprises.
Private companies are having small units built to produce a wide
variety of petrochemical goods. These units have been enlarged gradually
through the recent years. Baser Holding, as one example of a private
company, has a plant built in 1998 producing polystyrene, which until
then was only manufactured by Petkim. The plant was built at the
Yumurtalik Free Zone, near the Ceyhan crude oil export terminal on the
Turkish Mediterranean coast. The Baser plant has been able to produce
more than 100,000 tons/year since 2004. Executives of Baser, which has
had a quality standard award of "ISO 9002", have vowed to
develop their company into one of the major petrochemicals firms in
Europe.
One of the new projects being promoted is a 300,000 b/d refinery
which is to be part of an integrated complex to produce petrochemicals.
The promoters of are a consortium of Celik Enerji, a private Turkish
company, and the state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC). IOC has taken a
stake in JV of ENI and Celik in a project to have a 1.5m b/d crude oil
pipeline from Samson on the Black Sea to Ceyhan (see
down18TurkRefApr28-08).
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