NPC has issued invitation-to-bid (ITB) documents to interested contractors for its worldscale Olefin No. 11 project, which will be built at the Pars Special Economic/Energy Zone in Assaluyeh. The complex will consist of an ethylene cracker with a capacity of 1,200,000 tonne/year.
Downstream units of the complex include a 300,000 tonne/year of high-density polyethylene (hdPE) plant, a 300,000 tonne/year of linear low-density polyethylene (lldPE)/high-density polyethylene (hdPE) unit, a 50,000 tonne/year 1-butene facility, a 700,000 tonne/year monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant and a 600,000 tonne/year styrene monomer (SM) unit.
The last date for submission of bids is 1 April 2004.

NPC has invited tenders for the 1,000,000 tonne/year ethylene cracker of Olefin No. 8. Short-listed bidders are to submit their technical, contractual and commercial proposals by the end of January 2004.
Arvand Petrochemical Company is responsible for the implementation and operation of the facility, which will be located at the Bandar Imam Petrochemical Special Economic Zone on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf.

NPC has wrapped up technical and contractual negotiations with bidders for the 300,000 tonne/year hdPE plant of Ilam olefin project. Petrochemical Industries Development Management Co. (PIDMCO), an NPC's subsidiary, expects to select contractors for both the hdPE as well as the 318,000 tonne/year cracker before the end of 2003. Techno-commercial proposals for the Ilam's cracker were due in October.
The project also comprises an 80,000 tonne/year polymer-grade propylene plant.
It will consume 168,000 tonne/year of ethane, 300,000 tonne/year of C₃+ and 150,000 tonne/year of C₅+ cuts which will be sourced from a nearby gas refinery.

Petrochemical Industries Development Management Company(PIDMCO) is expected to start shortly negotiations with bidders for a 660,000 tonne/year methanol plant on Kharg Island. It has already received engineering, contractual and commercial proposals from short-listed bidders.

NPC is inviting tenders for an ethylene glycols plant on Kharg Island. The plant is slated to produce 500,000 tonne/year of monoethylene glycol (MEG) and 50,000 tonne/year of diethylene glycol (DEG).

The contract for designing and building a 500,000 tonne/year steam cracker in Kharg Island has entered into force.
The contract, awarded to Technip of France and Nargan of Iran in March 2003, covers provision of license, basic and detailed engineering, procurement of equipment, training and provision of assistance during erection, construction and commissioning.
Technip will provide its own ethylene technology together with proprietary furnaces. Final delivery of equipment is scheduled for the first quarter of 2006.
Nargan will provide engineering and procurement services for locally-sourced equipment and materials.
The facility is also slated to produce 38,000 tonnes/year of C₃+. The plant will consume 625,000 tonne/year of ethane, which will be sourced from the NGL plants of the Iranian Offshore Oil Co. (IOOC). The utility for the project will be provided by the utility unit of the Kharg olefin complex.
The plant is capable to produce 100% of ethylene either in the form of gas or liquid. The ethylene in gas form can be utilized as feed for MEG plants while the liquid form ethylene can be exported.

Bisotun Petrochemical Co., an NPC subsidiary, is making headway with the construction work on its 50,000 tonne/year linear alkylbenzene (LAB) project in Kermanshah, west of Iran. Basic engineering work has been completed while detailed engineering is 99% complete. Procurement work and construction & erection activities are 98% and 74% complete respectively. Overall, the plant is already 89% complete.
In addition to LAB, the complex will produce 6,500 tonne/year of heavy alkylate. It will consume 48,000 tonne/year of kerosene as net feed containing paraffin C10-C13 which will be sourced from Kermanshah refinery and 19,000 tonne/year of benzene which will be supplied by Esfahan and Bandar Imam Petrochemical Companies.
Basic engineering work was conducted by technology licensor Institut Francais du Petrole (IFP).
Tecnicas Reunidas of Spain and Enerchimi, a local company, are the appointed engineering and procurement contractors. Iran's Hampa is the contractor for construction work. All the process-related tanks are being supplied by Reactorsaz of Iran.
With mechanical completion due by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, the plant is expected to be commissioned in H1 of 2004.




Zagros Petrochemical Co., an NPC subsidiary which is responsible for implementing and operating methanol No. 4, has completed erection work on its saturator tower. The 24-meter high tower which weights 220 tonnes, excluding its internal equipment, was erected by Ramshir Co. a local contractor.




NPC is set to expand its methanol capacity from 740,000 tonne/year in 2003 to 3.4m tonne/year by 2005. The availability of natural gas in Assaluyeh and Bandar Imam is at the heart of NPC's plans to build two mega-methanol projects with a combined capacity of 2.65m tonne/year increasing its share of the global methanol market from 1.5% to 6.4%. NPC's third methanol facility, is under construction at Petrochemical Special Economic Zone near Mahshahr. The plant, which is being implemented by Fanavaran Petrochemical Co. has a capacity of 1m tonne/year. It is already 98% complete and is expected to come onstream in early 2004. The complex will consume 610,000 tonne/year of natural gas and 330,000 tonne/year of CO₂ which will be supplied locally.
Fanavaran is also building a 150,000 tonne/year acetic acid project and a 140,000 tonne/year carbon monoxide (CO) unit downstream of the methanol plant. Both of these plants are slated to come onstream by the end of 2004. About three-quarters of the methanol plant's capacity will be exported while 82,000 tonne/year of its output will feed its acetic acid plant. It will also supply Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex with 178,000 tonne/year of methanol.
In addition to its No. 3 methanol plant, NPC is building a 1.65m tonne/year methanol plant in the Pars Special Economic/Energy Zone in Assaluyeh. The fourth methanol project is being implemented by Zagross Petrochemical Co. It is already 67% complete and is expected to be commissioned in Q1 of 2005. The complex feedstock includes 188,000sm³/hr of natural gas and 83,000sm³/hr of oxygen.
NPC already has two methanol facilities operating in Kharg Island and Shiraz with a combined capacity of 744,000 tonne/year.




Jam Petrochemical Co., an NPC subsidiary, which is implementing and will operate Olefin No. 10, has started erection work at its olefin plant. The erection activities began with mounting quench oil exchangers at the plant. At the same time, work has also started to erect the furnaces of the ethylene cracker plant.
Meanwhile, Jam has finished constructing the foundation of the world's largest ethylene storage tank. It has two tanks for storing ethylene whose capacities are 50,000m² and 26,000m2 respectively.
Some 6,000m³ of concrete and 1.7 million kg of rods have been used in the foundation of the 50,000m² tank while 4,000m³ of concrete and 800,000kg of rods have been used for constructing the foundation of the second tank.
Jam's cracker complex has a capacity of 1.32m tonne/year.
Other facilities downstream from the cracker include 300,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP), 443,000 tonne/year of ethylene glycols (EGs), 300,000 tonne/year of high-density polyethylene/linear low-density polyethylene (hdPE/lldPE) and 300,000 tonne/year of high-density polyethylene (hdPE). Jam will have 220,000 tonne/year of surplus ethylene when the complex comes onstream in 2005.




Work on an isocyanates complex in the Petrochemical Special Economic Zone in Bandar Imam is 39% complete.
The engineering & design work is 99% complete while procurement & supply activities and construction & erection work are 36% and 27% complete respectively.
The project consists of four process plants: a 30,000 tonne/year aniline unit, a 40,000 tonne/year methylene di-phenyl di-isocyanate (MDI) plant, a 40,000 tonne/year toluene di-isocyanate (TDI) unit and a 56,000 tonne/year nitric acid (NA) plant.
The startup for the first phase, which comprises the TDI unit, is scheduled for April 2005.
The project is being implemented and will be operated by Karoon Petrochemical, a joint venture between NPC and Hansa Chemie of Germany and Sweden's Chematur Engineering, which is also providing the technology. NPC holds a 40% stake in the venture with the other two partners holding 30% each.