NPC News Bulletin-NPC's Methanol project was officially inaugurated -March 2000

The Petrochemical industry is rapidly growing in Iran. Weighed against many countries, even those in the oil & gas rich regions, Iran's petrochemical industry has a plethora of incentives and advantages, including abundant oil and gas reserves, qualified workforce, well-developed infrastructure and a growing domestic market.
In order to convert flared gas into valuable products and protect the environment, NPC decided to build a methanol plant in Kharg Island.
With the advent of electric vehicles (EVs) methanol offers promising prospects for introduction of fuel cell technology as a means of pollution-free power supply to automobile industry.

President Khatami (C), Petroleum Minister, Zanganeh (R) & NPC
President, Nematzadeh (L) at KMP inauguration ceremony

Kharg Methanol Plant (KMP), one of the ten new grassroots projects of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC), was officially inaugurated on March 13, 2000 by President Khatami.

In his address at the inauguration ceremony, President Khatami said Iran's economy should wean from depending on the export of crude oil adding that the trend should be shifted to converting oil and gas to petrochemicals.

He commended the role of the NPC's management in developing Iran's petrochemical industry, stressing that one of the main economic policies of his government has been to utilize oil and gas reserves for generating higher value-added products. Referring to Kharg Methanol project, he said, "the execution of such projects is an indication that the government is serious in pursuing its policy of weaning from dependence on crude oil export." Elsewhere in his address, President Khatami said that the goal of his government is to convert "the country's God-given under-ground resources into reliable on the ground wealth which can be used for the advancement of the country. Kharg methanol project is an important project which from now on converts flared gas into valuable products."

The KMP capacity is 660,000-t/y of grade AA methanol. It consumes sweet gas for its feedstock, which is supplied by the nearby Kharg Petrochemical Company (KPC). Contracts for the plant's license and basic engineering were awarded to Lurgi Oel. Gas. Chemie of Germany. Compared to the other NPC's projects constructed so far with engagement of the Iranian industries, the Iranian content in the development of KMP was considerably high.

Detailed engineering and supply of equipment and machinery for the plant were provided entirely by Iranian companies. The total investment for the project was about $200m. It is projected that in the new Iranian calendar year, starting from March 21, 2000, NPC will export some 610,000 tons of methanol worth some $50m based on current FOB prices.

[Send Mail] [NPC HOME]