Deputy Director General: Plant produced 6% more methanol than forecasted - INTERVIEW

Baku. 6 November. REPORT.AZ/ Report News Agency presents an interview with Rashad Aliyev, Deputy Director General for Production Affairs at SOCAR Methanol LLC, subsidiary of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR):

- It was mentioned that manufacturing of 250,000 tons of products planned in the methanol plant in 2017. At what volume was the production performance of the plant over the past period? How many percent of this year's production plan has been fulfilled?

- Baku Methanol Plant, which continuously and safely operates under management of SOCAR Methanol LLC, subsidiary of SOCAR, has fulfilled this year's production plan by 106% and succeeded to produce 265,000 tons of methanol instead of planned 250,000 tons.

- Which volume of natural gas is purchased for production of methanol?

- According to production plan of 2017, daily 1.5-1.6 mln cubic meters of gas is purchased. The main raw material in the methanol production is natural gas and therefore, SOCAR has fully provided the plant with continuous and at a reasonable volume natural gas supply according to the plan. In this and other matters, the support of our founder company is one of the first factors for successful operation of the plant.

- We export 95% of product manufactured in the methanol plant. Western Europe, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean basin countries dominate among the exported countries. The product export is carried out by the SOCAR Marketing and Economic Operations Department and sale is conducted by preferring effective logistics channels.

- How much is domestic market share in methanol sales currently? How do you assess potential of this market? What are your forecast about demand for methanol in the domestic market? Is it planned to increase sales volume in the domestic market in the future?

- Sale of methanol in Azerbaijan's domestic market and development of this market is one of our strategic goals. At present, methanol sales in domestic market make 5% of methanol produced. Recently, a forum of methanol market participants was held at the initiative of the Ministry of Economy and SOCAR, on the topic of development of processing industry. The main purpose of the event was to establish relations with methanol consumers in the domestic market, that relevant works have already started.

- Has the work plan of the next year been determined? Which volume of methanol production is expected in 2018? How much natural gas should be supplied for the planned volume?

- According to production plan in 2018, nearly 250,000-300,000 tons of annual production is planned and supply of 275-330 million cum of natural gas is forecasted respectively.

- The maximum annual production capacity of the methanol plant is 650,000-700,000 tons. It is our strategic goal to rise annual production to 500,000 tons in the current five-year period. Productivity enhancement is planned to be complexly achieved both through extension of the period between repairs, as well as through introduction of technological innovation.

- Will preventive measures be carried out in the plant this year?

- In accordance with the production and repair plan, overhaul is planned to be conducted in the plant from November, which will allow to increase production volumes, long-term safe, continuous operation of production facilities and prevention of relevant technological risks.

- What can you tell about strategic goals for the near future?

- Our strategic goals are to provide effective result in the development of the value chain within SOCAR, full provision of domestic consumers with local production methanol, lowering prime cost, increase in productivity, manufacturing of new products, as well as entering the market under the brand of Made in Azerbaijan for end-users.