The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (Socar, Baku / Azerbaijan; www.socar.az) has awarded contracts to French engineering group Technip (Paris; www.technip.com) for plants being built as part of a new complex at Garadagh, near Baku, in Azerbaijan.

The deal includes a service contract for the ethylene and cryomax technology licences for a petrochemical complex and the natural gas liquids recovery section of a gas processing plant, respectively.

Under the scope of work, Technip will carry out the process and engineering design for a steam cracker with capacities of 610,000 t/y of ethylene and 120,000 t/y of propylene as well as a single-train gas processing plant of 10 bn m³/y. The contract does not include the proposed PE unit at the site. Technip will also design the related utilities and offsite units. The contractor’s operating centre in Rome / Italy will execute the projects, which are scheduled to be completed during the second half of 2017.

Commenting on the award, Marco Villa, president of Technip’s Onshore-Offshore business in Europe, Russia, Middle East, India, Africa and Latin America, said: “This achievement consolidates our long-term relationship with a key client like Socar and at the same time reinforces our presence in Azerbaijan, considered a strategic market for Technip.”