The second pentane production unit of Tabriz Petrochemical Company in East Azarbaijan Province is set to go on stream in the current Iranian year (started March 20), the company’s managing director said.
“The new unit will have the capacity to produce 2,400 tons of pentane per year,” Seyyed Javad Soleimani was also quoted as saying by Shana.
TPC, which is located close to Tabriz Refinery, receives most of its feedstock, namely light and heavy naphtha and liquefied gas, from the refinery.
Officials are in serious negotiations with Japan’s JX Nippon Oil & Energy Company to implement Tabriz Refinery’s mazut reduction initiative, Mehr News Agency reported.
Soleimani added that to set up the unit, over $1.9 million have been invested.
“With the new production line becoming operational, Tabriz Petrochemical Company’s total pentane output will reach 4,800 tons annually,” the official said.
According to Soleimani, the company produces 800,000 tons of a wide range of raw plastics, including polyethylene, polystyrene and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, which are exported to 35 industrial countries, in addition to meeting the needs of domestic downstream industries.
High Foreign Demand
“After international sanctions against Iran were removed in January, demand from foreign customers, especially Europeans, has soared by three times more than the company’s total output,” he said.
Marzieh Shahdaei, the head of National Petrochemical Company who is also a deputy oil minister, said in June the company’s current production level should rise threefold to meet the demand of regional and international markets, calling for the completion of West Ethylene Pipeline project to provide the complex with ethylene.
Initiated in 2002, the 2,450-kilometer pipeline will carry ethylene from Asalouyeh to the provinces of Khuzestan, Lorestan, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad, Kermanshah, Kurdestan and West Azarbaijan.
Soleimani stressed that TPC’s export in the past four months has witnessed a jump of 98% compared with that of the corresponding period of last year. The official underscored that the reason behind the foreign buyers’ increased interests in the company’s products is the enhancement of its technical knowhow, which has resulted in the production of a wide range of grades compatible with the needs of downstream industries.
“The company works under the licenses of the world’s most renowned companies and produces petrochemical materials as per international standards,” Soleimani said.
Shahdaei said the production of a wide range of petrochemicals in TPC can not only help play a key role in the development of petrochemical downstream industries in the region, but also transform Tabriz into a new petrochemical hub.
