The volume of petrochemical production will increase around eight million tons by the end of the next Iranian year (March 2016), said deputy oil minister on Saturday.
Abbas Sheri-Moqaddam told Shana news agency that the ethane produced at the prioritized phases of South Pars gas field will be delivered to the petrochemical companies across the country in August. "That would add 5 million tons to our total petrochemical production capacity," he projected, adding that another three million tons will be produced by the complexes connected to the West Ethylene Pipeline, a 1,500km-long pipeline, which is expected to become operational in the next few months.
Regarding the production of petrochemicals, Sheri-Moqaddam, who is also the managing director of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC), said that 25 million tons will be added to the country's methanol output once new methanol units come on stream next year. "We propose to the potential investors to shift their focus to conversion of methanol to propylene, as the global methanol prices will drop sharply in the next few years over a projected supply glut," he suggested.
The official expressed hope that petrochemical complexes across the country would not face gas shortage this winter as natural gas production from South Pars has risen more than 100 million cubic meters. Besides, he said, gas imports from Turkmenistan has increased and stabilized in comparison with the previous years.
The NIGC has promised to supply ethane produced from South Pars phases to petrochemical complexes in the next few months, Sheri-Moqaddam noted, adding that the required machinery for ethane production at South Pars is currently being installed.
With regard to the planned Chinese finance scheme for construction of new petrochemical facilities, the NPC chief stated that the Chinese credit will be used for the implementation of projects in Bushehr, Khuzestan and Ardebil provinces.
Currently, 45 petrochemical units produce around 60 million tons of products, accounting for 36 percent of the total non-oil exports. According to global estimates, Iran holds 24 percent of Middle East's and 4.2 of the world's petrochemical production capacity.
According to Shana, Iranian petrochemical output is projected to hit 100 million tons, valued at 20 billion dollars, by 2017. Iran's main petrochemical exports mainly include methanol, urea, polyethylene and aromatics.
