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Energy

Ethylene Pipeline Will Help Tabriz Petrochemical Co. Raise Production

Tabriz Petrochemical Company in East Azarbaijan Province will be connected to the West Ethylene Pipeline, a 1,200km pipeline that runs from Asalouyeh in the south to West Azarbaijan Province in the northwest, within five months, the TPC managing director said Saturday.

The pipeline will help the company increase annual output capacity to 1.5 million tons by 2022, the Association of Petrochemical Employers' Union reported Siavash Derafshi as saying.

“An estimated 870,000 tons of polymer and non-polymers were manufactured in the company last year, half of which was exported,” he said, adding that the TPC earned $420 million from exports.

Ethylene is the building block for a vast range of chemicals, from plastics to antifreeze solutions and solvents.

With an estimated global output of over 150 million tons in 2016, ethylene is the most commercially produced gaseous compound. Iran’s annual output of ethylene is about 7.3 million tons.

TPC petrochemical products include raw polymers, polyethylene, polystyrene and various grades of a thermoplastic polymer known as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or ABS.

"TPC products are exported to 35 countries mostly in Europe," Derafshi said.

Iran's petrochemical sector has grown significantly over the past decade. Once fully operational, the West Ethylene Pipeline will have the capacity of supplying 3.5 million tons of ethylene, 2.5 million tons of which would come from South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf and the rest from Gachsaran, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province. Along the way, WEP would feed 12 petrochemical plants, including Lorestan and Mahabad petrochemical plants as well as Kermanshah Polymer Plant.

Iran exported 22.4 million tons of petrochemicals in 2017 worth $12 billion. Petrochemical is Iran's second largest industry after oil and gas.

Adopting policies to complete the petrochemical value-added chain has helped the country increase its output capacity from 40.6 million tons in 2013 to 54 million tons in 2017.