To help accelerate value chain completion in the petrochemical sector, the National Petrochemical Company is determined to indigenize all major catalysts used in the industry by 2024, managing director of the firm said.
“Experts of Petrochemical Research and Technology Company (PRTC), in collaboration with knowledge-based companies, have launched efforts to meet the needs of petrochemical plants by localizing main catalysts, which will speed up the completion of value chain in the lucrative sector,” Morteza Shah-Mirzaei was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
“Of the 40 types of catalysts used in the industry, 28 have been indigenized and 12 more will be localized by the end of the current Iranian year [March 2023],” he said.
“Iran will no longer need to import the main catalysts used in the petrochemical industry by 2024.”
The surplus will be sold in international markets, including Russia.
A catalyst speeds up a chemical reaction but is not consumed by it. Most solid catalysts are metals or oxides, sulfides and halides of metallic elements and semi-metallic elements such as boron, aluminum and silicon.
The domestically-produced catalysts are worth $123 million. Iranian companies annually use at least 23,000 tons of catalysts.
Catalyst consumption is rising and local companies are improving their R&D to not fall behind foreign competitors.
Referring to potentials for exporting catalysts and their knowhow to other countries, the NPC chief said, “Negotiations have been held with some neighboring countries by the private sector and we hope to begin the export of products in the near future.”
PRTC is the mainstay for research and production of technology in all petrochemical fields. It creates tech security and contributes to economic growth by exporting knowhow.
Downtrend in Imports
The import of petrochemical products has experienced a downtrend over the last two years and over 30 projects have been planned to maintain the downtrend in the coming years, Shah-Mirzaei said.
“Petrochemicals worth $2 billion were imported in 2020, which decreased to $1.5 billion in 2021 and NPC’s imports are projected to be around $1 billion in 2022. With the help of 33 development projects, NPC’s import will reduce by 70%, he added.
The official noted that with the implementation of these projects, NPC seeks to diversify the range of petrochemical products and help complete the value chain in the petrochemical industry.
The official noted that development projects, which need an investment of $3.3 billion, will use the remaining feedstock to produce about 20 new commodities, including acrylic acid and propylene oxide.
Currently, 50 projects are underway across the country to increase petrochemical output and help develop the downstream sector.
The annual production capacity of Iran's petrochemical industry will soon reach 100 million tons per year from the current 90 million tons per annum and plans are underway to boost the same to 135 million tons in six years.
The petrochemical industry has played a key role in Iran’s economic growth, as it creates value-added and reduces the sale of oil and gas on which the economy has been dependent for decades.
With abundant hydrocarbon reserves and new private sector investments, Iran is working hard to maintain its global status in the key sector and broaden its scope.
The NPC chief said Iran’s revenues from the petrochemical industry will grow by 230% in the next six years.
Annual revenues from the petrochemical industry will reach $50 billion by 2027.
Last year, Iran exported around $15 billion of petrochemicals, he added.
Iran did not attract significant foreign investments during this period and had to rely on its own resources, because of international and US sanctions.
According to Shah-Mirzaei, 67 petrochemical plants across the country received 40 million tons of feedstock, including condensates, ethane, natural gas and naphtha, in the last fiscal year, which was equivalent to 1 million barrels of crude per day. The figure is expected to surpass 2 million barrels per day in six years.
With the inauguration of new complexes, the number of petrochemical plants will reach 77, up 15% compared to the present.
Almost 60% of the petrochemical projects are in Asalouyeh and Mahshahr in southern and southwestern Iran, and the rest are scattered nationwide.
