The government’s Economic Council has approved $120 million worth of investment in the second phase of Ilam Gas Refinery, which should be financed by the National Iranian Gas Company.
The construction of second phase will start after obtaining the required environmental permits and it is expected to be completed in five years, Tasnim News Agency reported.
The second phase of the refinery will help increase feedstock from the current 6.8 million cubic meters to 10.2 mcm for increasing the production of various byproducts.
With the completion of the development project, the refinery's products, including natural gas for urban and industrial use, sulfur, ethane, gas condensate and liquefied petroleum gas, will increase by 1.5 times.
The production and sales of the five main products of Ilam Gas Refinery in the western Ilam Province, namely methane, ethane, LPG, sulfur and gas condensates, increased by about 86% in the last Iranian year (March 2021-22), compared to the year before.
While the production and sale of sulfur increased by 5%, ethane and LPG output experienced a growth of 284% and %216 respectively last year.
The sulfur produced in the refinery with a purity of 99.98% is one of the purest and highest quality sulfur produced in the country. The refinery produced 60,000 tons of sulfur last year, half of which was used by local industries and 30,000 tons were exported.
Ethane and over 1.3 million barrels of gas condensate produced by the refinery were supplied to Ilam Petrochemical Complex last year.
National Gas Grid
Ilam Gas Refinery injected 1.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas into the national grid during last year.
The production of ethane and LPG at the refinery continued their uptrend, as their output increased in the first three months of the current Iranian year (March 21-June 21).
Ethane output also increased by 104% and LPG production rose by 109% compared with the same period of last year.
During the three-month period, the refinery produced 34,000 tons of ethane, 59,000 tons of LPG, 13,000 tons of sulfur and 339,000 barrels of gas condensate.
According to Rouhollah Nourian, the refinery’s managing director, Ilam Gas Refinery is of strategic importance, as it is the only supplier of gas in western Iran and the one that provides feedstock to Ilam Petrochemical Company.
Annually, 130,000 tons of ethane, 230,000 tons of liquefied natural gas, 70,000 tons of sulfur and 1,350,000 barrels of gas condensate are produced in the complex.
Nourian hoped that by 2025, the output of all products at the refinery will rise by 50%.
