Turkey's leading petrochemical company, Petkim, increased its profit by 36% to 311 million Turkish liras in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same period last year, a statement from the company said Thursday.
Petkim said its profit also increased by 114% compared to the second quarter of this year while its cash flow from operations in the third quarter reached 1.7 billion liras.
These positive financial results stemmed from the optimization of operational costs, the continuation of production process development, effective maintenance programs, as well as maximizing the days that the facilities are in operation, the company explained.
'The petrochemicals sector has not lost its intensiveness during the COVID-19 period, and demand for petrochemical raw materials has been relatively less affected compared to other sectors,' Anar Mammadov, head of SOCAR Turkey refining and petrochemicals department was quoted as saying in the statement.
He said that Petkim was able to reach its pre-COVID-19 sales targets despite a 25% drop in product prices.
He added that during the period when global trade was negatively impacted by the pandemic, Petkim continued to supply uninterruptedly its main raw material, naphtha, from the STAR Refinery located in the Aliaga region of Izmir.
US$1 equals 8.45 Turkish liras at 08.51 GMT on Thursday.
By Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr