One of the most important activities of SOCAR is the production and sale of petrochemical products. The Ethylene-Polyethylene Plant of the Azerikimya Production Union, one of the critical structural units of SOCAR, has a large share in the petrochemical industry of our country.
Our country's history of the chemical industry dates back to 1945, when the first chemical enterprise called Ozer, later known as the Sumgait Surfactant Plant, produced its first product. Sumgait Synthetic Rubber Plant, considered the largest petrochemical enterprise of that time, was founded in 1950. In 1980-83, for the first time in the South Caucasus, a new high-productivity technological complex producing granular superphosphate fertilizers - the Superphosphate Plant - was built and put into operation.
In the 1970s and 1980s, due to the determination and principles of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev, the construction of the EP-300 unit was started, and this unique facility was commissioned in 1989. With the launch of the new technological complex, the production of valuable chemical products such as ethylene, propylene, butylene-butadiene fraction, light and heavy pyrolysis resin, and propane has been started. The main primary products of this complex were hydrocarbon products of the Baku Oil Refinery (now Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery). Following the EP-300 complex, the construction of the Polimer-120 facility, intended for high-pressure polyethylene production, was made possible with the support of Heydar Aliyev. The start-up of this facility, with equipment imported from Germany and Czechoslovakia, and an annual production capacity of 120,000 tons of polyethylene, gave a strong impetus to the production of polymer products - polymer pipes and coatings various household goods in our republic. In 1994, the Ethylene-Polyethylene Plant was established based on EP-300 and Polymir -120 facilities as part of Azerikimya PU.
Nitrogen-Oxygen and water-cooling tower units have been put into operation since 2013. The EP-300 unit processed naphtha received from Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery, commercial butane (LPG), dry gas (C1-C2 fraction), and C3 fraction propane (PPF) fraction, which produced both primary and intermediate products. BBF (butylene-butadiene fraction), py-gas, py-oil, hydrogen, methane-hydrogen, ethane, and propane fractions are additional products. The plant also includes a commercial and absolute isopropyl alcohol production facility commissioned in 1966. Its capacity is 25,000 tons per year. In general, the products of the plant are used for domestic demands, including SOCAR Polymer LLC and Azneft PA, and sold as well.
According to the State Program for the Development of Industry in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2015-2020, approved by order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated the 26th of December 2014, the EP-300 unit of the Azerikimya’ PU (Ethylene-Polyethylene Plant) has been modernized and reconstructed in 2016 -2022 years.
In the frame of the modernization project new dry gas treatment unit, PPF treatment unit, new ethylene and propylene products storage, PSA (pure hydrogen production unit), and four (4) new flexible to a different type of feedstock furnaces were implemented in Azerikimya PU. In addition, the recovery section and compression of Ethylene production were revamped as well. The modernization project increases annual production volumes for ethylene to 190,000 tons and propylene to 187,000 tons. In addition, hydrogen purity reached up to 99.998 % as well.