“It produced 4.865 million tons of products during the last fiscal year, which was 526,772 tons more than a year ago,” Taqi Sanei was quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
“This was a new production record in the company, as its output was 16% more than what was planned for last year’s production,” he added.
Nouri is one of the world’s largest production plants for aromatics. It is a subsidiary of the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, the biggest consortium of Iranian petrochemical producers.
The plant's output, which includes benzene, paraxylene, orthoxylene and raffinate, are mainly shipped to Persian Gulf Arab countries as well India, China and South Korea.
“Last year, we had the highest production of benzene at 476,342 tons in the past decade, which was 14.3% higher than the previous year. The production of paraxylene increased by 15.7% and reached 792,723 tons,” Sanei said.
According to the managing director, Nouri Petrochemical Company has signed an agreement with Iranian knowledge-based companies to localize the catalyst used in the continuous catalytic reforming units.
“The manufacture and supply of the catalyst widely used in the aromatic industry are now monopolized by French companies, including Exxon, but soon we will be able to produce it domestically,” Sanei said.
Catalytic reforming is a chemical process used to convert petroleum refinery naphthas distilled from crude oil into high-octane liquid products called reformates, which are premium blending stocks for high-octane gasoline.
Currently, six catalysts out of the eight ones used in Nouri Petrochemical Company have been indigenized.
In addition to the catalysts, over 3,500 parts and equipment have been localized in the facility.