Petrochemical output reached 37 million tons in the first eight months of the current fiscal (March 21-Nov. 20), production manager of the National Petrochemical Company said Saturday.
The output shows 3% growth compared to the same period last year, NIPNA, the National Petrochemical Company's news agency, quoted Qodratollah Farajpour as saying.
The products are sold to local companies and are also exported. Petrochemicals accounted for about 35% of Iran’s non-oil exports last year.
According to NPC data, companies exported 15.5 million tons of petrochemicals and polymers worth $7.5 billion in the first half of this year that began in March. The figures indicate 9.5% and 24% growth in terms of volume and value respectively, compared to the same period last year.
Referring to the final stages of the construction of two petrochemical plants to help complete the petrochemical value-chain, and programs to boost output at two other companies, Farajpour said, “it is estimated that by the end of the this fiscal petrochemical output will reach 54 million tons”.
Kaveh Petrochemical Complex, located 120km west of Assalouyeh near the Persian Gulf, will go on stream in the next two months, the official said.
The project is aimed at producing methanol and other downstream products.
Once fully operational, the plant’s daily methanol output capacity will be 7,000 tons, or 3.2 million tons per annum, which will make the company the largest of its kind in Iran and one of the biggest in the world.
Bushehr Petrochemical Complex, with 1.65 million tons capacity of methanol production, is also expected to start working by the end of the year.
Raising Urea Production
Farajpour named Kermanshah Polymer Company and Hengam Petrochemical Plant as two big firms with plans to increase production.
Plans are underway to boost production at Kermanshah Polymer Company to 345,000 tons per year from the current 300,000 tons/year. The company will increase its polyethylene production capacity by 12% before the year is out in March.
Hengam Petrochemical Plant is also boosting its urea production by consuming its excess CO2 in line with the company’s environment protection measures.
With the implementation of the program, 175 tons/day of excess CO2 will be used and urea production will rise from 3,250 tons to 3,500 tons per day.
Farajpour referred to two plants in the southern energy zone in Assalouyeh in Bushehr Province, launched in September, which “further helped increase petrochemical production.”
They include Marjan Petrochemical Plant’s Phase 2 in South Pars in Assalouyeh, with production capacity of 1.65 million tons of methanol per year, and the third phase of Pardis Petrochemical Plant, with capacity to produce 1.75 million tons a year of urea and ammonia.
Iran exports urea to Turkey, India, China, Europe and Latin America. Total exports were reported at over 4 million tons in 2017.
