SOCAR has no plans to sell port subsidiary in Turkey, planning additional investment - SOCAR Terminal CEO
BAKU. August 1 (Interfax) - The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) is not considering the sale of its container terminal in Turkey, SOCAR Terminal, and instead has decided to make additional investment in its development, SOCAR Terminal CEO Uygun Degirmenci said in an interview with the Turkish newspaper Dunya.
"Terminating our operations in the terminal sector is definitely not on SOCAR's agenda. On the contrary, last week the company's board of directors made decisions that will take us to a new level through the introduction of new equipment, technologies and additional investment in digitalization, ensuring an increase in capacity," Degirmenci said when commenting on media reports about the company's plans to sell SOCAR Terminal.
The planned investment will increase the terminal's equipment capacity from 600,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) to 1 million TEU per year, he said.
The company is currently exploring cooperation opportunities to expand its terminal operations by "joining forces with strategic partners," he said.
SOCAR Terminal is the largest container terminal in the Aegean region, Degirmenci said. In 2024, the terminal served 630 vessels and handled 541,100 TEU containers. SOCAR's total investment in the project amounted to $133.6 million.
Bloomberg, citing sources, previously reported that SOCAR Turkiye Enerji A.S., a subsidiary of SOCAR, was considering the sale of its port division in Turkey (SOCAR Terminal). The deal would allow SOCAR to secure funds ahead of making a final investment decision on expanding its $7 billion petrochemical business in Turkey, Bloomberg said.
The container terminal was commissioned in two phases, in December 2016 and August 2018. Its annual throughput capacity is 1.5 million TEU.
Earlier this year, SOCAR Terminal acquired a 93.47% stake in Petlim Limancilik Ticaret A.S., which was founded on November 22, 2010, to develop the existing port of the Petkim petrochemical complex, operational since 1985.
