The National Petrochemical Company (NPC) and Sasol Polymers (Germany) signed a 50/50 joint venture agreement to construct and operate an integrated facility for the production of ethylene and polyethylene. The production facility will be situated at Pars Special Economic/Energy Zone, Bandar Assaluyeh on the Persian Gulf coast.



The ethane cracker in the facility will produce one million tonnes of ethylene per year. The two polyethylene plants will produce low density and medium/high density polyethylene respectively and will have a combined capacity of 600,000 tonnes of polyethylene per year, which is destined for the export markets.



Construction activity has commenced and the ethylene facility is expected to start up in the second half of 2004. The polyethylene plant is expected on stream in 2005.



Speaking at the agreement signing ceremony, Mr. M. R. Nematzadeh, deputy petroleum minister and NPC president said that NPC was very pleased that Sasol had made such an investment in the Iranian polymer industry. He looked forward to a long and constructive relationship.





Jam Petrochemical Company, a subsidiary of the NPC, which takes care of implementing and operating olefin No. 10, awarded an engineering and procurement (EP) contract for its butadiene (BD) unit to a consortium of Lurgi of Germany and Namvaran of Iran.



The plant, a downstream of Olefin No. 10, will have a capacity of 110,000 tonnes per year. It is expected to be completed by 2005.





NPC is to invite tender for an integrated methanol/ammonia plant that will be built in Kharg Island. The methanol plant is slated to have a capacity of 2,000 tonnes/day. The proposed ammonia plant will have a capacity of either 1,100 or 1,500 tonnes/day.
Tender documents for the integrated complex will be floated to local and foreign contractors before the end of February 2003.



NPC will float tender documents to short-listed contractors for Ilam cracker. The documents will be issued before the end of February 2003. The cracker will be built in the city of Ilam, the provincial capital of the mid west Ilam province.
Ilam gas refinery, which is already under construction, will supply feed for the project including 168,000 tonnes/year of ethane, 300,000 tonnes/year of mixed C3 and C4 cuts and 150,000 tonnes/year of C5.The plant will be able to produce 318,000 tonnes/year of ethylene, 80,000 tonnes/year of propylene,300,000 tonnes/year of high-density polyethylene (hdPE) and 80,000 tonnes/year of polypropylene (PP).



NPC expects to pick up a contractor for its 500,000-tonne/year Kharg Island olefin project in the near future. NPC's subsidiary, Petrochemical Industries Development Management Co. (PIDMCO), and short-listed bidders, consisting of three consortium companies, wrapped up the first round of their technical and contractual negotiations in late 2002. The three consortiums formed by six foreign and local companies include ABB Lummus Global B.V. of the Netherlands/PIDEC of Iran, Linde of Germany/EIED of Iran and Technip of France/Nargan of Iran.
PIDMCO anticipates finalizing all the technical and contractual matters with bidders by the end of the current Iranian year, which ends on 20 March 03.



NPC expects to select a contractor for its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) facility by late March 2003 before the advent of Iranian new year. The facility will be built at Petrochemical Special Economic Zone. NPC initially concluded technical and financial negotiations with bidders in September 2002 for the project. Short-listed bidders included consortiums of UHDE of Germany/Sazeh of Iran, Toyo Engineering of Japan/LG of Korea/PIDEC of Iran and Samsung of Korea/Simon Carves of Britain/Namvaran of Iran.
It then decided to add a 40,000-tonnes/year emulsion polyvinyl chloride (E-PVC) plant to the facility's product slate. Tender documents have been floated for the three consortiums for the E-PVC plant. The deadline for submission of bids is February 2003.
The complex will produce 570,000 tonnes/year of chloralkali, 548,000 tonnes/year of ethylene dichloride (via direct chlorination), 240,000 tonnes/year of ethylene dichloride (via oxi-chlorination), 303,000 tonnes/year of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), 300,000 tonnes/year of suspension PVC, 40,000 tonnes/year of E-PVC and 16,200 tonnes/year of NAOCL as by-product.
The facility will be built in an area of 64 hectares. It will use salt which is recovered from the sea, ethylene and oxygen as feedstock.