Iran eyes Asia with massive petchem plant

Iran has begun execution of a project worth $12 billion to build 17 petrochemical units in the Iranian city of Chabahar on the Sea of Oman coast. 

The plan is to produce 22 million tonnes of petrochemical and polymer products per year which would target the markets in Pakistan, India and China. The location would cut the cost of shipments and reduce export expenses.

The construction of the first pipeline to carry ethane for use as feedstock in the units will also begin soon, the Fars news agency reported on Friday.

The massive project is in line with Iran’s policy to expand petrochemical plants beyond the Strait of Hormuz and use free trade zones and other infrastructural facilities near the Sea of Oman.

The project is financed by the private sector and is expected to be completed over a period of nine years.

It will include four methanol units, four ammonia units, four urea/ammonia units, two ethylene units, an aromatics production unit and a methanol-to-propylene unit beside an additional development unit.

Iran currently produces 60 million tonnes of petrochemicals a year. The National Petrochemical Company (NPC) plans $30 billion of investment to raise this to 100 million tonnes.

Three new petrochemical plants are expected to come on stream before the end of the current Iranian year in March 2016, an official said last week.

Sixty petrochemical projects, worth $70 billion, are currently underway across the country, with their physical development progress ranging between one and 99 percent.

Officials say the sector is capable of attracting $70 billion in domestic and foreign investment.

Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh has said Iran plans to splash out $180 billion to revive and renovate its oil, gas and petrochemical industries by 2022.

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