NPC Boosting Urea Output Capacity
EghtesadOnline: Urea production capacity is expected to rise nearly three times from current levels by the end of the sixth five-year economic development plan (2017-22).
Urea output capacity is set to reach 14.7 million tons per annum from more than 5 million tons at present after the launch of nine petrochemical plants in four years, NIPNA, the National Petrochemical Company’s official news service, reported on Tuesday.
Urea is mainly used as a fertilizer in agriculture and also used as raw material for other industrial purposes.
Iran's biggest urea and ammonia production project is the third phase of Pardis Petrochemical Complex in Asalouyeh, Bushehr Province, which is slated for inauguration in September. It is designed to produce 1.07 million tons of urea and 75,000 tons of ammonia annually, Financial Tribune reported.
Other petrochemical projects include Lordegan Urea Fertilizer Plant in the Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Province, which has made nearly 60% physical progress as well as Hengam Petrochemical project in the Hengam Island in the Persian Gulf with more than 40% progress.
Lordegan and Hengam plants, each with 1.07 million tons of urea output capacity per year, are planned to go on stream in two years.
The new urea production units are part of Iran's drive to raise petrochemical production capacity from 62 million tons to more than double that amount in five years. Iran's actual petrochemical production in the previous fiscal year that ended in March stood slightly above 50 million tons.