Technip Energies wins Petkim contracts to expand packaging polymer capacity

TÜRKİYE – Technip Energies has secured engineering and technology contracts from Petkim to develop a proposed integrated petrochemical complex in Aliağa, designed to produce key building blocks for packaging materials and consumer goods.

The contracts include the license for a world-scale mixed-feed ethylene cracking unit, along with the integrated Process Design Package and Front-End Engineering Design services for the overall complex. 

The FEED scope covers a steam cracker designed with an ethylene production capacity of approximately 1.2 million tonnes per annum and a propylene production capacity of 550,000 tonnes. 

The downstream scope comprises an 850,000-tonne HDPE/LLDPE complex configured as two 425,000-tonne trains, and a 550,000-tonne polypropylene plant integrated with the new cracker.

Investment Targets Packaging Polymer Self-Sufficiency

The planned complex is intended to produce petrochemical building blocks used to manufacture a wide range of everyday products, including packaging materials, consumer goods, automotive components and industrial applications. 

Petkim currently meets approximately 10 percent of Türkiye’s petrochemical product demand, with significant gaps between domestic capacity and consumption in polypropylene and high-density polyethylene grades. 

The Master Plan aims to address this by raising annual ethylene capacity from 588,000 tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes and polypropylene capacity from 145,000 tonnes to 550,000 tonnes, subject to a final investment decision.

US$70 Million Allocated to FEED Studies Through 2027

Petkim has allocated US$70 million to the FEED process, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2027 and will form the technical and commercial basis for a potential final investment decision. 

Stéphane Mespoulhes, senior vice president for ethylene and polyolefins at Technip Energies, said the company was pleased to support Petkim at this important stage, adding that combining ethylene technology with engineering capabilities would establish technical foundations for an efficient, flexible and competitive project. 

Kanan Mirzayev, general manager of Petkim, said the company viewed the FEED allocation as an investment in Petkim’s future and aimed to address Türkiye’s long-term needs in the petrochemical sector.

Refinery Integration Strengthens Feedstock Security

The Master Plan also aims to strengthen integration between Petkim’s petrochemical operations and SOCAR’s refining assets in Türkiye, particularly the STAR refinery adjacent to the Aliağa complex, which supplies naphtha feedstock. 

For Türkiye’s packaging sector, expanded domestic polymer production could reduce reliance on imported polyolefin resins, shortening supply chains and improving cost predictability for converters and brand owners. 

The project remains contingent on a final investment decision following completion of engineering and feasibility studies.

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