Linde Discusses Petrochem Cooperation in South Iran

Negotiations are underway between Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex and Germany's Linde Group regarding investment in the major petrochemical complex in south Iran, managing director of BIPC said.

“In a visit to the BIPC (this week), a group of experts and executives from Linde Group  expressed interest in an active role in developing the complex,” Reza Amiri was quoted as saying by Shana on Sunday.

BIPC is located in the southern city of Bandar-e Emam Khomeini in Mahshahr County, Khuzestan Province. It is an affiliate of the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Co., the largest holding company in Iran's stock market. Amiri said the two sides discussed technology transfer as well as equipping BIPC with state-of-the-art equipment to increase production.

Linde is determined to take advantage of post-sanctions opportunities in Iran's flourishing petrochemical industry by providing Iran with advanced machinery and equipment, the BIPC chief was quoted as saying.

"Linde opened an office in Tehran last month in the presence of Germany's Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel," he said, adding that the group signed a contract worth $40 million with Kian Petrochemical Company (KPC ) in October to provide the Iranian firm knowhow and licenses to manufacture a range of petrochemical products with higher value added, namely olefin, butadiene, benzene and hydrodealkylation.

Pointing to Linde's cooperation in the South Pars Gas Field mega project, Amiri noted, "Following the lifting of international sanctions in January, the German company expressed interest in resuming technical cooperation with Iranian firms."

South Pars is the world’s largest gas field, shared between Iran and Qatar, covering an area of 3,700 square kilometers of Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. Iran is developing the mega project in 24 phases.

Founded in Germany in 1879, Linde Group is a major multinational industrial gas and engineering company. It is the world's largest industrial gas company by market share and revenue. The group has over 600 affiliated companies in more than 100 countries, with customers in the industrial, retail, trade, science, research and public sectors.

According to Marzieh Shahdaei, managing director of National Petrochemical Company who is also a deputy oil minister, several sessions have been held with Linde and the engineering giant Siemens to chart out the way for their return to Iran.

Linde is enthusiastic about joint ventures in Iran under engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) as well as engineering, procurement, construction and financing (EPCF) contracts, according to Shahdaei.

According to reports, German companies have been particularly eager to resume business with Iran and are expected to invest $12 billion in Iran’s petrochemical sector.

Iran has set an ambitious petrochemical production target of 180 million tons a year by 2025, nearly three times the current level.