Major Iranian Petrochemical Co. Plans Share Listing by March

Nouri Petrochemical Company, one of Iran's top petrochemical producers, plans to list its shares in Tehran by the end of the present fiscal year in March next year, the company's managing director said.

"Plans have been in place to list the shares in Tehran's Fara Bourse exchange market in the second half of the [fiscal] year. Nouri Petrochem Company has been accepted on Fara Bourse and we hope the float to take place soon," Mojtaba Taheri was also quoted as saying on Monday by NIPNA, the news service of the National Petrochemical Company

Fara Bourse is similar to Tehran Stock Exchange, Iran's largest stock market, but its regulations and requirements make listing easier for smaller-scale companies. But according to experts, major companies such as NPC can be listed on Fara Bourse instead of TSE for disclosure and transparency requirements.

Nouri Petrochemical Company, previously known as Borzouyeh, is one of the world’s largest production plants for aromatics, according to the company’s website.

It is a subsidiary of the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, the biggest consortium of Iranian petrochemical producers. The plant was launched in 2007 at a cost of $240 million.

The company produced over 4.7 million tons of petrochemicals in the fiscal 2016-17, its biggest output volume in the past 10 years.

Nouri's anticipated listing comes as the Iran's state petrochemical firm aims to reduce its stake in the country's large and increasing number of petrochemical companies and refocus on its leadership and policymaking role in the key petrochemical market—Iran's most important sector after oil and gas.

Taheri added that major repairs at Nouri plant are scheduled to start next month. The complex receives about 4.5 million tons of gas condensates from the giant South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf as its primary feedstock.

Iranian companies produced around 3.8 million tons of petrochemicals between Sept. 23 and Oct. 22, with Nouri Petrochemical Company the top producer in terms of value, NIPNA said without providing details.

Data show that Iran exported about 13 million tons of petrochemicals and polymers, worth $6.5 billion, between March 21 and Oct. 22.

Earlier this month, Taheri said his company was in talks with France’s Axens Group to upgrade and expand its processing capacity.

Axens, a provider of technologies, products and services to refining and petrochemical markets, is to help install a plant in Nouri complex for refining 2 million tons of heavy fuel oil, lubricating oils, wax and asphalt per annum.

Having passed the 50-million-ton mark in the previous fiscal, Iran aims to ramp up production to 60 million tons by March 2018, as a string of petrochemical plant launches should increase nominal output capacity to 72 million tons annually.