3 Major Petrochemical Plants Set for Launch

EghtesadOnline: Three major Iranian petrochemical plants will become operational in the current fiscal year that ends in March 2018, managing director of the National Petrochemical Company said.

News ID: ۷۷۹۳۸۴

23 September 2017

“As per the schedule, three petrochemical plans, namely the third phase of Pardis Petrochemical Company, Marjan Petrochemical Company and Kaveh Methanol Company, are due to start production in the present fiscal,” Marzieh Shahdaei was also quoted as saying by NIPNA on Wednesday.

She added that the mega plants are expected to add 5.5 million tons to Iran’s annual production capacity.

On the status of the plants, the official, who is also a deputy oil minister, said the third phase of Pardis will be inaugurated in the near future, noting that Marjan, with 1.6 million tons of annual production capacity, and Kaveh, which will produce 2.3 million tons of methanol per year, are at the pre-launch phase and will become fully operational by the end of the current fiscal, according to Financial Tribune.

According to Shahdaei, other petrochemical ventures, including the second phase of West Ethylene Pipeline (WEP) and the utility units of Damavand Petrochemical Plant, are planned to become operational within six months.

WEP runs from Asalouyeh by the Persian Gulf all the way to West Azarbaijan Province in northwest Iran.

The announcement comes as construction of a major petrochemical plant with an output capacity of 700,000 tons of ethylene and 150,000 tons of propylene annually in the western Ilam Province commenced last month.

The NPC chief added that more than 50 million tons of petrochemicals were produced in the previous fiscal, of which 20 million tons, worth nearly $10 billion, were exported and nearly 7.5 million tons were consumed in the domestic industry.

“Iran aims to increase the local use of polymer products, currently at 4.5 million tons per year, by 1 million tons,” she said.

Iranian petrochemical production in the first five months of the current fiscal year (March 21-Aug. 22) reached 22.6 million tons, which earned $4.6 billion in export revenues, NPC said in a report.

The petrochem company is planning to finalize preliminary agreements on licensing and construction projects within three months, in what could see the world’s top energy firms return to Iran’s petrochemical market after years of absence.

Shahdaei said it could take longer to hammer out the details of bigger petrochemical ventures by western investors.

Cap:  The mega plants are expected to add 5.5 million tons to Iran’s annual production capacity.