Waiting for Red Ribbon
I
ran’s petrochemical industry is known
to be a major generator of hard currency.
Everyone attest to the significance of paving
the ground for the development of this sector.
The petrochemical industry has witnessed
ups and downs over recent decades. On its way to
reach its current status, the industry has left behind
threatening conditions. The petrochemical industry
has been meeting domestic needs in addition to
contributing to strengthen Iran’s standing in the
regional and global markets. Despite widespread
structural changes, numerous management and
planning, the industry has successfully emerged out
of the conditions of sanctions. Today, as sanctions
are getting tougher, the petrochemical industry
remains on the front line of the economic war. A large
number of projects have been envisaged over recent
years in the petrochemical sector; however, due
to changes in the management, lack of capital
and government support and absence of
foreign investors have come to a halt.
Efforts got under way under the 11th
administration to determine the
fate of these projects. That
was when petrochemical
managers defined
three periods for
the development
of the
petrochemical sector, known as three jumps. The
first jump happened in the 1990s and 2000s when
Iran’s petrochemical potential was better known at
the national and international levels. The second
jump covers the 2013-2021 period, during which
42 projects would have come online. Twenty-seven
projects are under way and the rest have already
come on-stream. The second jump would cost $17
billion. But the bulk of petrochemical projects are
envisaged for the third jump, i.e. 2017 to 2024. For
this period, a total of 28 projects are envisaged to
become operational. All of them are currently under
operation with a final output of 133 million tonnes.
The third jump is estimated to need $23 billion in
investment. The Petroleum Ministry is making every
effort to provide this amount of investment against
the backdrop of sanctions. The second and third
jumps are part of the 5th and 6th five-year economic
development plans. The petrochemical industry and
the economic sector have mutually boosted each
other.
Presidential Praise
Iran’s last calendar year was very tough for the
petrochemical industry; however, petrochemical
plants managed to fulfil their obligations and win
praise from President Hassan Rouhani.
Rouhani said: “The enemies imagined that
if they curb Iran’s oil income, the country’s
hard currency income would be disturbed and
therefore they exerted pressure on crude oil.
Nevertheless, all industrialists and entrepreneurs
including petrochemical industrialists who were
on the frontline, jumped to the fray.” He said that
petrochemicals’ revenue was the most important
source of non-oil income. Citing a Central Bank
report, Rouhani said: “The petrochemical
industry supplies 20% of the country’s
hard currency needs and 50% of banks’ hard
currency needs.” “It shows that the petrochemical
industry is on the frontline and when an industry is
on the frontline, we need to support it,” he added.
Rouhani called on the parliament, judiciary and
public opinion to endorse the petrochemical industry
as it is shouldering a heavy burden. Last calendar
year to 19 March2020, a number of projects were
about to come on-stream, but only the second phase
of the Takht-e Jamshid Petrochemical Plant became
operational. The other projects are to be inaugurated
in the current calendar year.
The second phase of the Takht-e Jamshid project
was aimed at putting an end to Iran’s dependence
on raw materials imports for tire manufacturing
at the Mahshahr Special Economic Petrochemical
Zone. The project was inaugurated in the presence of
Vice-President for Science and Technology Sourena
Sattari and CEO of National Petrochemical Company
Behzad Mohammadi. It is the largest supplier of raw
poly-butadiene rubber (PBR), the raw material for
tire production. Now, this plant would have an annual
production capacity of 55,000 tonnes of PBR.
Waiting for Inauguration
Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh had said that
five petrochemical projects were about to come
on-stream. He said the first phase of the Bushehr
petrochemical plant’s olefin project, the Ilam olefin,
the Sabalan methanol, the Lordegan urea and
ammonia, the Miandoab petrochemical plant and
the Bid Boland gas refinery were set to become
operational. They are currently in the phase of trial-
run, waiting to come online. The NPC has said that
the Kaveh methanol petrochemical plant, the Bushehr
plant and the Ilam olefin would soon come on-
stream. The first phase of the Bushehr petrochemical
plant would have a capacity to produce 4.111 million
tonnes of products in Assaluyeh. The first phase of
the Bushehr petrochemical plant has various sections
for gas sweetening, ethane recovery, methanol
production as well as water and oxygen production.
The Kaveh methanol plant, as the largest methanol
project in the world, will have a big share in the
country’s petrochemical output with an annual
production capacity of 2.31 million tonnes. This
project enjoys the advantage of proximity to sea and
having a specific jetty for exports. The second phase
of the Ilam petrochemical plant will come online with
an annual production capacity of 800,000 tonnes of
ethylene, pyrolysis gasoline propylene in chemical
and polymer grades, as well as liquid
fuel. The Ilam petrochemical plant is
the largest petrochemical plant in
western Iran in terms of extent, production capacity
and the number of processing units. It can inject
150,000 tonnes a year of surplus ethylene to the West
Ethylene Pipeline.
Year of Inaugurations
A number of petrochemical projects are expected
to become operational in the current calendar
year. The Sabalan methanol project, the Lordegan
petrochemical project and the Masjed Soleiman
petrochemical project are set to come online in the
first half of the year. The Sabalan project is being built
on 7 ha of land in the second phase of the Pars Special
Economic Energy Zone for the production of 1.65
million tonnes of products. The Sabalan methanol
project faced delays due to the lack of cooperation on
the part of licensor in supplying catalysts. But finally
due to the cooperation of the Petrochemical Research
and Technology Company (PRTC), it is about to come
online. The Lordegan petrochemical plant with an
annual capacity of 1.755 million tonnes in Chahar
Mahal and Bakhtiari Province is expected to produce
ammonia for both domestic production of urea and
for direct supply on the market. The Bid Boland-3
project is designed to gather associated gas in
southeastern Iran in order to save national assets and
help reduce air pollution. The products of this plant
would be methane, ethane, propane, butane, acid gas
and condensate.
The Masjed Soleiman urea
and ammonia project is
designed to produce
660,000 tonnes a year
of ammonia and 1,073
tonnes of urea. It
would be fed with
861 mcm/y of
natural gas.
The plant is
located on 50
ha of land in
Khuzestan
Province.