Over 90% of the mechanical parts of Imam Khomeini Shazand Oil Refinery in Arak County, Markazi Province, have been indigenized, helping save $54 million since 2006, which would be needed to spend on importing them otherwise, managing director of the refinery said.
“So far, 13,500 items have been designed and manufactured in cooperation with knowledge-based companies via reverse engineering,” Majid Rajabi was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
“The refinery uses a lot of parts and equipment imported in previous years. However, there is now a unit in the complex, which provides all the equipment needed by the refinery, including compressors, pumps and other parts in collaboration with knowledge-based firms,” he said.
“A significant portion of the parts required by the refinery is now produced inside the country and we intend to indigenize other parts that are currently imported as well. We also plan to localize generator parts. We are currently in the process of signing contracts with domestic companies for manufacturing them.”
Referring to catalysts as one of the products required by refineries, the managing director said, “We have been importing this product for the past many years, but in the last few years, knowledge-based companies have started producing them. We use the local products in our operational units now and we hope that the dependence on imported catalysts will end in the near future. We have 100% confidence in the capability of local knowledge-based companies as we have been working with them for about 20 years.”
Needle Coke
Outlining the refining company's plans for the current Iranian year (March 2022-23), Rajabi said the refinery will produce needle coke.
Last year, a contract was signed between the refinery and the Research Institute of Petroleum Industry, a research and development arm of the Oil Ministry, for the production of needle coke. The project is now in the initial design stage and will have five units.
When operational, it will make Iran self-sufficient in the production of the item used for steel production.
When the unit becomes operational within four years, 90,000 tons of needle coke required by the domestic steel industry will be produced from low-sulfur mazut domestically.
Iran is currently dependent on needle coke imports. The contract is of great strategic value for Iran, as the US sanctions imposed on the country have troubled import of the item.
Needle coke is a type of petroleum coke that is a final carbon-rich material derived from oil refining.
Also called acicular coke, needle coke is a highly crystalline petroleum coke used in the production of electrodes for steel and aluminum industries and highly valuable because the electrodes must be replaced regularly.
With the production of needle coke, mazut production will be zero and the profitability of the refinery will increase.
Imam Khomeini Shazand Refinery produces five main products, including gasoline, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, diesel and mazut, and delivers them to the National Iranian Petroleum Products Distribution Company.
It is now the top producer of low sulfur fuel in the shipping sector, which is supplied to the fleet of the National Iranian Tanker Company and Iran Shipping Company. It is also the top producer of normal hexane and propylene for petrochemical companies.
Known as the most modern and profitable refinery in Iran, it has a capacity of 250,000 barrels per day.
Shazand Oil Refinery became operational in 1993. Its annual output includes 5.2 billion liters of gasoline, 4 billion liters of diesel, 430,000 liters of kerosene, 400 tons of granular sulfur and 500 tons of propylene.
