The Iranian President, Seyyed Mohammad Khatami inaugurated five of the NPC's facilities on 22 June 2004. The facilities were part of the development projects which NPC had been constructing at Petrochemical Special Economic Zone, south of Iran.
The projects included methanol No. 3, engineering polymers, Fajr centralized utilities, Bandar Imam MTBE and an export jetty.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony, President Khatami said the achievements of the NPC promise the prospects of a bright future. He said "the blooming stage has started for Iran's oil, gas and petrochemical sectors," adding that in the next ten years, the export revenue from Iran's petrochemical industry would equal that of its oil industry. Highlighting the significance of the petrochemical industry for Iran's economy, President Khatami said the industry was a source for creating jobs adding that some 11 thousand industrial plants were receiving their feedstock from petrochemical industry. He said the government was determined to expand the downstream petrochemical sector to ensure a flourishing environment for it. The President said Iran's emerging petrochemical industry should grow further as the pillar of the country's economy to make sure the "lofty goals of its vision for the next 20 years" would be realized. Also speaking at the ceremony, Iranian petroleum minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that with the completion of projects at the Petrochemical Special Economic Zone, the Zone would be emerging as a major hub of Iran's petrochemical industry. He said in the past six years around $6bn has been invested in the industry. Zanganeh noted that an investment of around $1.4bn was made for the construction of methanol No. 3, engineering polymers, MTBE and Fajr utilities complexes adding that the value of annual output from these plants, excluding Fajr, amounts to around $400m.
Zanganeh also said another petrochemical hub was developing in Assaluyeh which is based on gas feedstock from the South Pars field. He said "by 2015, the value of Iran's petrochemical products will reach $20bn." At the ceremony, a number of the NPC managers and the officials from the contracting companies involved in the projects received Award of Merits for their efforts from President Khatami.
The projects which were officially opened by President Khatami included a world-scale methanol plant with an output capacity of 1m tonne/year of grade AA methanol. The facility has been implemented and is being operated by the NPC subsidiary Fanavaran Petrochemical Co.



Engineering polymers, operated by the NPC subsidiary, Khuzestan Petrochemical Co., was another project inaugurated by President Mohammad Khatami. Khuzestan's production slate includes 10,000 tonne/year of liquid & solid epoxy resins and 25,000 tonne/year of polycarbonates. The President also officially opened Fajr Petrochemical Co., a centralized utilities complex, which meets the needs of projects located in the Zone.



Fajr has a 585 MW power station and has already planned to add 255 MW of electricity by November 2006. It is also planning to build a new UT facility at the Zone to produce more electricity and other utilities.



Besides electricity, Fajr provides 830t/h of steam, 3,900 m3/h of RO water, 980 m3/h of DM water, 400 m3/h of service water, 250 m3/h of potable water, 16,500 nm3/h of service air, 15,000 nm3/h of instrument air, 18,000 nm3/h of nitrogen, 19,000 m3/h of oxygen for the investors located within the zone.



A 500,000 tonne/year methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) plant was also inaugurated by the Iranian President. The MTBE plant, located in Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex, consumes 186,000 tonne/year of methanol as feed which is supplied locally. Petrochemical Industries Design & Engineering Co. (PIDEC) has done the basic and detailed engineering as well as the procurement work. The first phase of a port designed for loading/unloading of liquid products at the Petrochemical Special Economic Zone (Petzone) was also inaugurated. The phase involves one jetty which has a loading/unloading capacity of about 2m tonnes per year of liquid products and can berth vessels of 45,000DWT. The port will consist of another jetty which will have similar capacity to that of the first phase. The second jetty is expected to be completed by 2006. When fully operational, the port's loading/unloading capacity will reach around 4m tonnes per annum.





Kharg Petrochemical Company signed a contract on 23 June 2004 with a consortium consisting of the Iranian Companies Namvaran and Towse'eh Shabakehaye San'ati, for the construction of the 2nd Methanol Project at Kharg.
The engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract covers purchase of license, basic and detailed engineering, procurement, construction, erection and commissioning. The 2nd Kharg methanol project will be constructed in an 8-hectare area adjacent to an existing methanol plant on Kharg Island. It will have an output capacity of 660,000 tonne/year.
Davey Process Technology Co. of the UK will perform basic engineering for the project, based on the technology from Johnson Matthey, and will also provide technical assistance throughout the implementation period. The project's feedstock is 70 million cubic ft/day of light gas to be supplied by the Iranian Offshore Oil Co's refinery in Kharg Island. The 2nd Methanol Project will also utilize as feedstock some of the CO2 emissions from Kharg MEG plant, thereby reducing pollution.
The project's final product is designated for export. It will be completed within a 30-month period.



NPC has awarded an engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract to a consortium of Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. (MES) of Japan and EIED & GICI of Iran to construct a high-density polyethylene (hdPE) plant in Ilam province northwest of Iran. The plant, which will be based on Mitsui Chemical's CX technology, is a part of Ilam Petrochemical Complex. The plant will produce 300,000 tonne/year of hdPE in various grades for both domestic consumption and export. It will use as feed 305,000 tonne/year of ethylene which will be supplied by the olefin plant of Ilam Petrochemical Complex. Utilities, including power, water and steam will also be provided by the utility plant of Ilam Petrochemical Complex. The contract covers the provision of license, basic & detailed engineering, supply of equipment and materials, construction, erection and commissioning.
NPC subsidiary Ilam Petrochemical Company will implement and operate the project. The plant is scheduled to be completed in 33 months.




NPC subsidiary, Petrochemical Industries Development Management Co. (PIDMCO) is in talks with short-listed bidders over the technical/contractual issues for the 1m tonne/year ethylene plant of olefin No. 8 project.
The plant, to be implemented by another NPC subsidiary Arvand Petrochemical Co., will be located in the Petrochemical Special Economic Zone (Petzone) in southwest Iran, on the Persian Gulf shore.
Arvand Petrochemical complex also includes a 885,000 tonne/year ethylene dichloride (EDC) unit, which is part of an integrated polyvinyl chloride (PVC) complex. The facility is planned to produce as main products 570,000 tonne/year of chlorine, 300,000 tonne/year of suspension-grade PVC, 40,000 tonne/year of emulsion-grade PVC, 635,000 tonne/year of caustic soda (100%) and 15,000 tonne/year of sodium hypochlorite. Krupp Uhde and Sazeh Consultants have been appointed as the engineering and procurement (EP) contractors for the PVC complex.


NPC is negotiating technical and contractual matters with short-listed bidders for a monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant. The plant will be built on Kharg Island, south of Iran. It is slated to have a production capacity of 500,000 tonne/year. The plant will also produce 50,000 tonne/year of diethylene glycol (DEG) and triethylene glycol (TEG).


NPC is studying proposals it has received from bidders for its 318,000 tonne/year ethylene cracker of Ilam Petrochemical Co. The plant is also slated to produce 80,000 tonne/year polymer-grade propylene. NPC awarded an EPCC contract to a consortium of Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. (MES) of Japan and EIED & GICI of Iran for Ilam's 300,000 high-density polyethylene (hdPE) plant


NPC's subsidiary PIDMCO is studying proposals for the 1.2m tonne/year of ethylene cracker of the 11th olefins project which will be built under an EPCC contract.


The NPC subsidiary Amir Kabir Petrochemical Co. (AKPC) has signed a licensing agreement to use Basell's Lupotech T process for its 300,000 tonne/year low density polyethylene (ldPE) plant in Petrochemical Special Economic Zone in Bandar Imam, southwest of Iran. AKPC is responsible for implementing and operating NPC's Olefin No. 6 project. AKPC brought a 140,000 tonne/year high-density polyethylene (hdPE) plant onstream last year. The company is building a 520,000 tonne/year ethylene plant, a 51,000 tonne/year butadiene unit, a 20,000 tonne/year butene-1 unit. It will also produce 158,000 tonne/year of propylene and 300,000 tonne/year of linear low-density polyethylene (lldPE)/ high-density polyethylene (hdPE).