In 2008, SOCAR launched its operations in friendly Türkiye by acquiring 51% of Petkim, the country’s first and only integrated petrochemical complex. The scope of activity of the SOCAR Türkiye group companies includes the import, wholesale and retail of crude oil and natural gas, distribution of natural gas, and the production and sale of petrochemical products. Since 2008, SOCAR Türkiye together with its business partners has invested a total of 17.6 billion US dollars in the economy of Türkiye.
The group companies Petkim, STAR Oil Refinery, SOCAR Terminal, SOCAR Depolama and Petkim Wind Power Plant are located in the Aliaga region of Izmir. TANAP Pipeline, Bursagaz, Kayserigaz, Enervis and SOCAR Enerji Ticaret specialise in natural gas transportation and distribution. In addition, SOCAR Ticaret, which is engaged in the operation of petrol stations, Millenicom and SOCAR Fibre communication and telecommunication companies, as well as the construction company SCR Gayrimenkul take an important place in the portfolio of SOCAR Türkiye.
SOCAR Türkiye, which has achieved great advances in the field of oil refining, production of petrochemical products, import, storage, distribution and sale of crude oil and natural gas, as well as logistics, has also become the largest industrial holding in the country; currently, it is the largest foreign investor in Türkiye. The direct employment created by the group in Türkiye is 5,300 people, and together with contractors, it is more than 10,000 people. SOCAR Türkiye group companies contribute to the reduction of Türkiye’s current account deficit by approximately 2 billion US dollars every year.
OIL REFINING AND PETROCHEMICAL COMPLEX
In 2008, SOCAR Türkiye acquired 51% of the shares of Petkim, Türkiye’s first and only petrochemical complex, for 2.04 billion US dollars. The complex produces about 60 different types of petrochemical products, consisting of 15 main factories and 6 auxiliary processing enterprises. With a production capacity of 3.6 million tons per year, Petkim produces raw materials for fields such as chemicals, packaging, construction, pipes, paints, agriculture, electricity, electronics, automobiles, textiles, medicine and medical supplies, detergents and cosmetics. Low and high-density polyethylene, polypropylene, ethylene-propylene, polyvinyl chloride, acrylonitrile, ethylene glycol, purified acid, aromatic chlorine alkali, hydrocarbons, vinyl chloride monomer, plastic works and phthalic anhydride plants operate within the complex.
Petkim is regularly awarded the leading places in the Top 500 Large Industrial Enterprises, 100 Largest Industrial Enterprises of the Aegean Region and Most Exporting Companies lists announced by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry and the Aegean Region Chamber of Industry. The industrial complex has become the leading exporter of the Aegean region, exporting finished products worth USD 810.9 million in 2021. At present, the share of Petkim in the market of petrochemical products of Türkiye is about 16%.
The opening ceremony of STAR Oil Refinery, which is the largest single-point investment project by the private sector in Türkiye, was held on the 19th of October 2018 with the participation of the leaders of Azerbaijan and Türkiye. The refinery located in Izmir’s Aliaga Peninsula produces naphtha, which is the main raw material needed by Petkim, and a number of products imported by Türkiye. 6.3 billion US dollars have been invested for the realisation of the project. Most of the products are intended for the domestic market of Türkiye. STAR Refinery, which has the capacity to process 11 million tons of crude oil per year, makes an important contribution to reducing the current deficit in Türkiye.
SOCAR Depolama was founded in 2016 for the purpose of storing crude and finished oil products. The scope of activity of the terminal includes operations such as storage of oil and oil products in tanks, tanker loading and unloading operations. As a result of increasing the storage capacity of STAR Refinery, the total tank capacity of the SOCAR Depolama Terminal has been increased to 575,000 m³, which makes SOCAR Depolama one of the 5 largest terminals in Türkiye.
Petkim Wind Power Plant, which plays an important role in the production of alternative energy, was established to increase the energy security of Petkim’s petrochemical complex, reduce its costs, and use ecologically clean and renewable energy sources. The total cost of the project is 55 million euros, the mechanical power of the plant is 51 megawatts. At the end of 2017, the installation of turbines at Petkim WPP, which is located on the peninsula and consists of 17 turbines, was completed. The plant produces 200 gigawatts of energy per year, or the equivalent of the electricity used by approximately 40,000 families.
One of the subsidiaries of SOCAR Türkiye is SOCAR Türkiye Petrol Enerji Dağıtım A.Ş. (SOCAR Ticaret), which carries out wholesale and retail of fuels in the region, fuel sales for aviation (SOCAR Aviation) and marine transport (SOCAR Marine). In order to increase the sale capacity of STAR Refinery, SOCAR Ticaret managed to conclude contracts with fuel suppliers (intermediaries) from all over Türkiye. Currently, SOCAR Türkiye operates in the retail fuelling sector with a total of 111 petrol stations, 13 of which are operated by SOCAR and 98 by dealers.
The SOCAR Aviation brand was established in 2013. Since 2016, SOCAR Aviation, which started its operation by providing fuel to Pegasus and other aviation companies at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport, now supplies airlines at Atatürk (Istanbul), Adnan Menderes (Izmir), and the newly built airports of Bodrum and Istanbul. Türk Hava Yolları is also one of the main customers of SOCAR Aviation.
SOCAR Marine provides fuel for marine vehicles. It started operating in 2013 and it contributes to the maritime sector by supplying high-quality fuel to ships both in the local and world markets. SOCAR Marine, initially supplied Iskandar and Mersin regions, now ensures the region’s access to the world’s marine fuel market. SOCAR Marine is currently the market leader of Türkiye with the sale of 680,000 tons/year of transit marine fuel.
Natural Gas Business Unit
The Natural Gas Business Unit of SOCAR Türkiye is responsible for operations such as import, retail and commercial sale, as well as distribution of natural gas in the domestic market of Türkiye; it also operates Kayserigaz, Bursagaz, Enervis and SOCAR Enerji Ticaret, which joined the SOCAR family in 2019.
Kayserigaz has been operating since 2003 and it distributes, transports and markets natural gas in Kayseri, one of the most important industrial cities of Türkiye. SOCAR Türkiye owns 80% of the company’s shares. 10% are owned by Çalık Holding and 10% by Kayseri Municipality. The total length of the grid controlled by Kayserigaz, Türkiye’s most modern natural gas distribution company, is 5,603 km. In 2020, the company’s service and customer satisfaction was rated at 99%. The number of Kayserigaz customers, which was 20,000 in 2004, is constantly increasing every year and reached 511,000 at the end of 2021. Kayserigaz integrates into the SCADA system and controls the gas grid as much as possible, and in case of any accident, it can be eliminated in a short time. The company has ISO 9001, ISO 10002, ISO 14001, ISO 27001, ISO 31000 and ISO 45001 certificates.
Bursagaz operating in Bursa, the fourth largest city and industrial region of Türkiye, was founded in 1992 by BOTAŞ. Bursagaz, which has more than 1.1 million customers, was privatised in 2004 and joined SOCAR Türkiye in 2019. 80% of the company’s shares are owned by SOCAR Türkiye, 10% by Çalık Holding and 10% by Bursa Municipality. Bursagaz, which controls a modern natural gas distribution grid with a total length of 7,025 km (until the end of 2021), was awarded the Best Employer Awards and Great Place to Work awards of Türkiye. The company has obtained ISO 9001, ISO 10002, ISO 14001, ISO 27001, ISO 22301, ISO 50001 and ISO 45001 certificates.
SOCAR Enerji Ticaret, which carries out the wholesale of natural gas and electricity in Türkiye, has been considered the largest private sector representative in natural gas trade since 2009. SOCAR Enerji Ticaret, one of the leading companies in this area, sold 15 TWh (trillion watts per hour) of natural gas and electricity in 2021. The annual natural gas consumption of SOCAR Türkiye is approximately 1.7 billion m³, and taking into account the current investments, this figure is expected to increase further in the coming years. This means that the role of SOCAR Enerji Ticaret will increase even more.
Enervis has been providing specialised services in the field of energy and distribution since 2912 and it mainly performs operations in such areas as internal installation control, meter calibration and reading.
Portfolio Administration Business Unit
One of the assets of SOCAR Türkiye is SOCAR Aliaga Terminal, which is considered the largest integrated container port in the Aegean region. The company was founded on the 22nd of November 2010. A total USD of 400 million has been invested in the SOCAR Terminal project with a capacity of 1.5 million TEU.
Millenicom
Since 2004, the Millenicom company operating in the telecommunications sector of Türkiye has been providing high-level telecommunication and communication services to end customers. The company, which joined SOCAR Türkiye in 2019, currently has 280,000 individual and corporate customers. Millenicom offers to its individual customers unlimited internet and telephone services in ADSL, VDSL and FIBER options, and provides 24/7 Call Centre support. In 2017, it was selected as the winner of the “Alternative Operator Services of the Year” category and in 2018 as the third leading company in Türkiye’s communication services sector.
SOCAR Fibre, one of the SOCAR Türkiye’s companies specialising in the telecommunications sector, was founded in 2013 and received a management service license from the Information Technologies and Communications Authority of Türkiye in July 2014. SOCAR Türkiye owns 100% of its shares. SOCAR Fibre offers a backbone network service to all operator companies providing electronic communications and high-speed Internet services. The company has created an opportunity to use the 1,850 km long fibre optic network along the TANAP pipeline in Türkiye.
OTHER GROUP COMPANIES
SOCAR Ar-Ge ve İnovasyon A.Ş (SOCAR R&D and Innovation Inc.) was founded in December 2019 in order to transfer Petkim’s 51 years of research and development experience to the entire group. The company, located on an area of 1,200 m² in the Aliaga region of Izmir, operates 6 laboratories for services in the fields of rheology, catalysts, polymer characterisation, environment and biotechnology, chemical analysis and chromatography. In addition, the R&D centre includes offices with a 400 m² pilot production facility that enables polymer processing, polymerisation and catalyst test systems. The goal of the company’s Nefertiti project is to produce ethanol and isopropanol from carbon dioxide through solar energy. The project is financed by the Horizon 2020 Grant Programme of the European Commission.
SCR Gayrimenkul
SCR Gayrimenkul conducts all repair and construction, design, inspection and property management operations within SOCAR Türkiye. Examples of important projects implemented by the company are SOCAR Plaza in Istanbul with an area of 24,000 m², SOCAR Türkiye Aliaga Head Office, the building with an area of 30,000 m², and the office in Ankara with an area of 11,200 m². SCR Gayrimenkul implements many projects in SOCAR’s special industrial zone in Aliaga.