Country should forget about oil factor in economy

Azerbaijan’s SOCAR Methanol LLC organized an event “Industry Development: Support for Processing Spheres”, in cooperation with Economy Ministry stipulating the plants potential for 2017.

Being the only plant of this kind in the South Caucasus and Central Asia SOCAR Methanol has been operate since January 2014. Currently, 95 percent of its products are exported.

Estimated at $520 million, the plant’s maximum annual capacity is 720,000 tons.

Addressing the event Niyazi Safarov, the country’s Deputy Economy Minister said that Azerbaijan should forget about oil factor in the economy.

He said the country had to switch to processing sphere, which is one of the most important for the further development of Azerbaijan’s industry.

“This sphere is well diversified,” Safarov said. “Industrial zones, parks and territories, where special attention is paid to processing facilities, are being created.”

The deputy Economy Minister noted that in modern conditions, Azerbaijan should develop industrial production.

“From this point of view, SOCAR Methanol is an important company with significant export potential and it is possible to create a real industrial cluster around it,” he added.

Speaking at the event Elnur Mustafayev, Head of SOCAR Methanol LLC, said that the plant has completely fulfilled its production plan for 2017, which was put at 250,000 tons of methanol.

“As much as 95 percent of the manufactured products were exported,” Mustafayev said. “There is great demand for methanol in the world - about 40 million tons [a year]. SOCAR Methanol meets this demand by 0.7 percent. Five percent is sold on the Azerbaijani market to several companies. We hope that after today’s event, the interest for methanol in the country will grow.”

He added that increasing production capacity and reducing the cost of goods are the strategic objectives of the methanol plant.