NPC concluded contracts worth $4.5bn for its development projects in a span of four years ending in March 20, 2001, M. R. Nematzadeh, NPC President told a local daily. He said NPC has awarded contracts for all of its third phase projects and is currently carrying out studies on the fourth phase projects. "We are currently studying bid documents for the projects that are to be implemented after the third five year plan is completed", he said. "There will be a loss for the development of the petrochemical industry and also the country in case of a slowdown in the implementation of the new projects. There should not be any time gap between the operation of the third phase projects and planning for those of the fourth phase", Nematzadeh added. He said petrochemical projects took at least three to four years to complete and if that period was not taken into account there would be a lag between our plans.He noted that NPC's third and fourth phase projects would be built at Assaluyeh where raw material and feedstock are available.

NPC has issued tender documents for an ammonia project that will be built at the existing Razi Petrochemical Complex (RPC) in south Iran near the northern coast of the Persian Gulf. The project will have a capacity of 2050 tonne/day (676,500-t/y).RPC already has two ammonia plants each with a capacity of 330,000 tonne/year. It has an overall production capacity of 3.2 million tonnes per year.


Right after the installation of generator No. 1, in the first week of July, gas turbine No. 1 of Fajr utility project was successfully installed. The 475M^3 foundation of these two pieces of equipment was completed last March. A total number of 21 piles were cast under this foundation last summer. Each pile was 31m long and had a diameter of 0.8m. The rotor of the turbine was made in Switzerland while its other parts were fabricated and assembled in Japan. The total weight of the generator and turbine is over 350t. Installation of gas turbine No. 2 and pre-alignment of gas turbine and generator No.1 are currently underway.Meanwhile, during the past few months, the implementation of the project's 132KV transmission line has been stepped up, leading to the completion of 79 tower foundations, erection of 68 towers and cabling of 34 of them.



This line is designed to supply the power needed for Fajr commissioning and future connection to the national grid and power stations of the Fajr and Bandar Imam and Razi Petrochemical Complexes. The starting point of the line is Mahshahr 400/132KV post. This post is 28 kilometers long.



NPC's first MTBE project is nearing completion. The 500,000-t/y project is located at Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex (BIPC), south west of Iran. It covers an area of 10-hectares.Mechanical installation work is 98% complete while 78% of pre-commissioning operations has been finished. The project consists of six units, including isobutane separation, dehydrogenation, MTBE synthesis, oxygen removal, raffinate saturation and storage.Commissioning operations are making headway at the project site. Different main rotary pieces of equipment are ready for start while catalyst loading for most of the static equipment is completed. The MTBE synthesis unit is ready to receive methanol for circulation. The project's main contractor is Petrochemical Industries Design & Engineering Company (PIDEC) of Iran which is responsible for providing basic & detailed engineering, procurement, supervision and workshop engineering. The construction contract was awarded to an Iranian company, Petrochemical Industries Erection & Construction Company (ECC).



The project is due on stream later in 2001. The plant will consume butane and methanol as its feedstock, which will be supplied by BIPC and Kharg Methanol Plant respectively. About 40% of the project's output will be used by the country's downstream industries whereas the remaining percentage will be available for export.