Are the Saudis being associated with the $10 billion project in Hatay?

Within the framework of President Tayyip Erdoğan’s tour of the Middle East, agreements were signed the day before between the Republic of Turkey and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the fields of direct investment, defense industry, energy, defense and communications.

The Memorandum of Understanding in the Field of Energy between the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Turkey and the Ministry of Energy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was signed by Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, and Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud, Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia.

APPROVAL OF EIA RECEIVED PRIOR TO ELECTION

The cooperation achieved in the field of energy turned heads to Hatay. Because, since last year, the Turkey Wealth Fund (TVF) has been working to establish a petrochemical and refinery facility with an investment of approximately 10 billion dollars in the Dörtyol district.

Established by the Wealth Fund in 2020, TVF Rafineri ve Petrokimya Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ applied for an Environmental Impact Assessment for the refinery construction last year, and in March 2023, the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change received a “positive EIA” decision. .

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN PROJECT NAME

The project with a capacity of 9 million tons/year, which will be established to reduce the foreign trade deficit in the field of petrochemical and refining, will be located within the limits of the Yeniyurt and Yeşilköy districts of Dörtyol.

According to the EIA report, the name of the project is Eastern Mediterranean Petrochemical Plant.

It is expected that approximately 10,000 people will work in the site preparation and construction phase of the project (maximum 15,000 people in the period of intense construction works), and 2,000 people in the operation phase. The construction period of the project is expected to be 78 months, including pre-engineering, and the operational period of 49 years.

EXTERNAL DEPENDENCE

In the report, “Approximately 10% of the domestic demand for plastic raw materials in the petrochemical sector is met by domestic production. The rubber industry, on the other hand, is 100% dependent on foreigners in terms of raw materials. It is considered that one of the most important steps to take to achieve growth based on production and improve the foreign trade balance of our country is to make petrochemical investments. Making these investments is of great importance in terms of guaranteeing security of supply in national production, creating added value in the petrochemical sector and reducing the dependence on imports of the sectors that feed on the petrochemical sector. It was said.

GIANT PIER WILL BE BUILT

The reasons for building a petrochemical plant are listed in the report as follows:

“The fact that our country is the fastest growing attractive market after China and India is that the petrochemical sector; It is a strategic sector that provides input to almost all sectors of the economy, 12% of the foreign trade deficit of the Turkish economy is made up of petrochemicals, it has the potential to produce products with high added value, the development potential of other sectors to which it provides raw materials, depending on the petrochemical sector, ensuring that the added value transferred remains in the country and supporting investment, R+D+i and employment…”

For the supply of raw materials and the logistics of the formed products, a dock structure 3,710 meters long will be established on the sea side.

CEYHAN ADDRESS WAS SHOWN BEFORE

Under the Ministry of Finance’s 2020-2022 New Economy Program, TWF was expected to participate in fixed capital investments in petrochemicals, mining, and electricity generation from domestic sources based on private sector cooperation or foreign capital. In this context, TWF, which put strategic investments on its agenda to reduce the foreign trade deficit, announced that it will make its first investment in refining and petrochemicals.
In 2019, the Turkish Wealth Fund announced that the refinery and petrochemical complex would be established in the Ceyhan district of Adana and construction work would begin in 2021.