May 14, 2024 [Kayhan]- Iran is to launch 15 petrochemical projects by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (to end on March 20, 2025), said the managing director of National Petrochemical Company of Iran (NPC) here on Saturday.

Morteza Shahmirzaie made the remark at a press conference held on the sidelines of the 28th Iran International Oil, Gas, ‎Refining and ‎Petrochemical Exhibition, also ‎known as Iran Oil Show 2024, adding, “The number of petrochemical complexes will increase to 80 once these projects come online.”

Last year was a remarkable year for Iran’s petrochemical projects, he said, adding, “The NPC along with petrochemical holdings and companies has started to move towards the realization of this year’s motto since the beginning of the current Iranian year (began March 20, 2024).”

He went on to say that the capacity of Iran’s petrochemical industry will surpass 100 million tons when the projects come on stream.
Referring to the feedstock needed in petrochemical complexes, he said, “Feedstock is the main issue for increasing production. They are seeking investment in oil industry upstream sector and gas inventory in order to ensure stable supply of the needed feedstock. To this end, they signed a number of memoranda of understanding with petrochemical companies to invest in the development of oil and gas fields.”

He pointed to the investment as a priority in completing the value-chain, he noted they need to try to complete the value chain if they want to have a dynamic, sustainable and improving industry at an international level.

Speaking about the plan to indigenize catalyst production in Iran by yearend (to end on March 20, 2025), he noted they try to increase the orders of locally-made products in petrochemical industry.

He also announced that new investment methods and packages will be offered in near future which require parallel movements by the holdings. Indigenizing technical know-how has been a challenge in the petrochemical industry, he said, adding, “They have already taken appropriate measures in this regard.”

Referring to the development of petrochemical parks, he said 7-10 million tons of methanol will be converted into methanol-based products in 21 plants in Methanol Park in Parsian Energy Intensive Industrial Special Economic Zone through the methanol-to-olefins (MTO) and Methanol to propylene (MTP) methods.

The National Petrochemical Company (NPC) chief Bijan Chegeni said that over 74.3 million tonnes of petrochemical products were produced in the country in the last Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2023 to March 19, 2024).

Speaking at a specialized meeting on reviewing the strategy of a production jump in the petrochemical industry on the sidelines of the Iran Oil Show 2024, Chegeni emphasized that the objectives of the production jump should be realized in the petrochemical industry to witness a production hike in downstream industries, exports and currency yielding.

The NPC’s production control manager noted that 74.3 million tons of petrochemicals were produced in the country last year.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he said 20 petrochemical companies get 208 megawatts of electricity from the national electricity grid, stressing that most of these companies have heavily invested on purchasing the gas power plants and supply their need independently, IRNA reported.

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