On the occasion of the Iranian New Year * Norooz * NPC News Bulletin wishes to extend its felicitations to all Iranians and other nations that celebrate the festival as well as to those who are interested in and care about Mother Nature.May the New Year bring happiness and prosperity to mankind.



Iran's deputy petroleum minister and NPC president, Mr. Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh says "NPC expects to increase our output capacity to 22.5 million tonnes by the end of next Iranian year when some of its projects at 'Bandar Imam Petrochemical Special Economic Zone' and 'Pars Special Economic/Energy Zone' will be completed."
Issuing a message on the occasion of the start of the Iranian solar year of 1383 which started on 20 March 2004, Nematzadeh pointed out, "the new year marks the NPC's 40th anniversary. This historic coincidence can serve on the one hand as a source of satisfaction and pride for us as we prepare to celebrate the anniversary while we are implementing twenty new petrochemical projects, twice the number of all the projects built in the course of the past forty years in Iran. On the other hand, it reminds us not to lose sight of the 'sweet and bitter' fact that even with the completion of all of these projects we can, though very late, account for only 2% of the world's output."
He noted that "the investment and production climates are ripe for the Iranian petrochemical sector demanding the mental, scientific and working preparedness of those people who are involved in the industry.
" He expressed hope that as NPC moves to achieve a new position in the world markets, "we can in the future take our steps more timely and resolutely than ever before and to utilize the opportunities open to us more wisely and expertly."



He stated in his New Year message that "attaining such a magnitude of 'work' and reaching such a level of work 'continuity' not only demonstrate the wholehearted efforts made by the NPC staff in developing and managing the petrochemical sector but they also symbolize the 'skill' and 'expertise' every staff has acquired in executing and running different sections within this complex industry. This is an invaluable asset in our march for developing the industry."
In the past year, Nematzadeh noted, several projects were brought onstream, including the high-density polyethylene (hdPE) plant of Amir Kamir Petrochemical Co., Fajr centralized utility complex, MTBE plant of Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex, ethoxylates unit of Arak Petrochemical Complex, an ABS facility in Tabriz, a melamine crystal plant in Khorasan and two ethane-recovery plants of NGL 1200-1300.
He announced "several other projects will come onstream in the first quarter of the new Iranian year including, 3^rd methanol, engineering polymers, 3^rd aromatics and olefin facility of the Amir Kabir complex."
Nematzadeh added "in the past year, the number of workforce working for the contractors and consultancy companies involved in our projects at Petrochemical Special Economic Zone and Pars Special Economic/Energy Zone reached an unprecedented 50,000 people."
He said NPC exported 4.6m tonnes of various petrochemicals last year, worth more than $1.2bn up by over 30% over the previous year, remaining its position atop the country's list of major non-oil producers. Domestic sales reached 4.8m tonnes worth over Rials 9,000bn showing 27% increase over the previous year earnings.