“As per the $36 million deal, the contractor is supposed to provide the employer with machinery and equipment over the next 15 months,” Behzad Mohammadi was quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry news portal.
One boiler, a 2,000-ton reactor and a secondary reformer will be made at an estimated cost of $15 million, $14 million and $5 million respectively. The cost of transferring equipment from Arak to Asalouyeh is put at $2 million, according to Financial Tribune.
Work on Siraf complex started in 2014 and it is close to the South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf. The park is being developed in the Pars Kangan region of the Pars Special Energy Economic Zone, between phases 13 and 19 of South Pars Gas Field.
“The new contract should give fresh impetus to the project at which work has made little progress.”
Regarding items to be produced, he said the complex will produce either olefin, a synthetic fiber made from polypropylene or polyethylene, or gasoline compliant with Euro-5 emission standards.
Completion of the value chain in the refining park is high on the agenda and converting gas condensates to low value added products like naphtha is not an option.
The project will increase Iran’s crude oil refining capacity, currently at around 1.8 million barrels per day by 22% and raise petrochemical feedstock production by 57%.
The project was initially supposed to be funded by the Export Import Bank of South Korea and the South Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, but due to the new round of US sanctions in 2018 the Koreans opted out.
Machine Sazi Arak Company, a leading manufacturing company, has played an active role in equipping petrochemical plants in Mahshahr, Khuzestan Province, with boilers and reactors. It also exported machinery to Japan, Italy, France and Kuwait.