The olefin unit of Kangan Petro Refining Company in Bushehr Province, which comprises the second phase of the company’s development project, has registered 81% progress and is expected to come on stream in 2023.
The phase includes an ethylene plant that will help complete the value chain of the company’s products.
Located on a 15-hectare plot in Kangan County on the coast of Persian Gulf, the plant will produce propylene, polypropylene and high-density polyethylene, the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana reported.
Ethylene and its byproducts are used as building block materials for a variety of products, including plastics, detergents and adhesives.
Iran is making efforts to increase the output of ethylene and other olefins due to rising domestic and foreign demand.
According to a recent report, global ethylene consumption has grown by 4.3% annually from 2014 to 2020 and it is forecast to increase by 3.4% from 2020 to 2028.
North America accounts for 24% of global ethylene consumption and is the largest consumer of this product worldwide. China, the second-largest consumer of ethylene, accounts for 18% of global ethylene consumption. The Middle East, the third-largest consumer, accounts for 18% of global ethylene consumption. Demand is forecast to reach 233.9 million tons in 2028.
The first phase of Kangan Petro Refining Company was launched last February. The natural gas liquid (NGL) recovery plant seeks to underpin the sustainable supply of feedstock to petrochemical plants in the region.
Costing $1 billion, the processing facility has an annual production capacity of 3.75 million tons of NGLs and helps promote the development of downstream petrochemical sector.
The NGL processing plant receives 21 million tons of natural gas as feedstock per year from Phase 12 of the South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf for producing 2 million tons of ethane, 1 million tons of propane, 500,000 tons of butane and 250,000 tons of pentane annually.
NGLs are a group of hydrocarbons, including pentane, ethane, propane and butane. They have a wide variety of applications ranging from specialized fuels (e.g., propane, butane) to petrochemical feedstock for making products like plastic and fertilizers.
To help boost annual NGL feedstock supply by 14 million tons, six projects costing $7.5 billion are in different stages of construction and will come on stream by 2023.
In the past 10 months, Kangan Petro Refining Company has increased its sales and earned $500 million.
With an increase in the facility’s output, exports can annually earn $1 billion for KPRC.
