New Methanol Plant in Baku Receives Carbon Credits

A new methanol plant constructed on the outskirts of Baku was made possible by a $30 million finance agreement between Russia’s VTB bank and AzMeCo, or the Azerbaijan Methanol Company. In earlier posts we looked at how the plant was financed, with Nasib Piriyev’s ACG consulting on the deal. We also saw what the product capacity for the plant was and other facts and figures.  



In the attachment you can see that methanol can help reduce global carbon emissions to the point where AzMeCo is able to receive carbon credits. The factory setting of the AzMeCo plant allows it to capture around quarter of a million tons of CO2 gases each year as they are released into the atmosphere. The idea of capturing harmful carbon emissions and recycling them is a relatively new one but experimental plants in Iceland have already proved that it can be done. The technologies for this are now becoming more widespread as more countries seek to reduce their carbon emissions in innovative ways. The vision of AzMeCo revolves around monetising natural gas into methanol derivatives by caring for and helping to protect the environment and contribute to long-lasting, sustainable development for the Azerbaijani economy. The methanol plant fulfils this vision, with AzMeCo now planning to invest a further $1.1 billion in six more methanol plants across the country.

New AzMeCo Methanol Plant in Azerbaijan

As was looked at in the last post, a methanol plant has been constructed on the outskirts of Baku by AzMeCo. Further funding for the plant was advised by ACG under Nasib Piriyev from Russia’s VTB Bank, with a $30 million loan. This finding comes on top of the $120 million loan earlier allocated to AzMeCo for construction of the plant by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.



As shown in the attached short video, the plant is eligible for carbon credits and has the potential to capture 250,000 tons of CO2 over the course of a year that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. AzMeCo was originally founded in 2007 and is today a leader in large project development within Azerbaijan; Nasib Piriyev served as CEO of AzMeCo from 2007. The final post, to follow shortly, will look at how methanol production can help reduce global carbon emissions.

VTB Bank Funds Methanol Plant Construction in Azerbaijan with $30 Million Loan

In 2011 the go-ahead was given for construction of a new methanol plant in Azerbaijan after Russia’s VTB Bank agreed to a loan of $30 million to AzMeCo. The plant, which was constructed in Baku and the first and only such facility across the Central Asia and Transcaucasia regions, is the core component of AzMeCo’s plan of investment within Azerbaijan. The methanol plant is situated just south of the capital Baku in the Garadagh district and has a capacity to produce up to 720,000 tonnes of methanol annually. More statistics can be seen in the infographic attached to this post.



The financing for the project came about as part of an agreement with Azerbaijan consulting company ACG, established by Nasib Piriyev as part of the PNN Group. ACG is comprised of a carefully selected team of accountants, financiers and lawyers working with PNN Group companies to raise finance, manage projects and work with banks in the early stages of the projects.

VTB is an international finance group with presence in twenty-one countries across Asia, Western Europe and Africa, with VTB Bank Azerbaijan as its Azeri subsidiary.

In the following posts you will be able to learn more about the plant and about methanol, including how methanol has the potential to help reduce carbon emissions and contribute to creating a healthier planet.