Iran's President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami has praised the achievements made by the country's petrochemical sector during the recent years. He said the sector's contribution was very important to the country's economy because it converts the relatively inexpensive feedstock to petrochemical products with much higher added value. The President added that the industry can provide feedstock and raw material across a board spectrum of downstream industries to operate. He emphasized that developing Iran's petrochemical industry was one of the remarkable accomplishments of his government. President Khatami made the comments on 20 November after the inauguration of the phase 1 of the South Pars gas field in Assaluyeh, south of Iran. Phase 1 of the South Pars is planned to produce 25 million cubic meters of natural gas daily as well as 40,000 barrels of gas condensates and 200 tonnes of sulfur. The President said six world-scale petrochemical facilities were being constructed at Assaluyeh expressing hope that some of them would be completed in the coming months and the remaining ones by 2005-06.
Experts from NPC traveled to Syria to help remove technical problems at the ammonia and urea plants of the country's General Fertilizers Company (GFC). Their dispatch came following signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between NPC and GFC in late 2003. According to the MoU, NPC announced its readiness to help and provide necessary assistance to GFC. In the wake of the agreement, a multi-disciplinary team from NPC visited GFC in February 2004 to identify the bottlenecks. They also prepared a plan for the overhaul of the GFC's ammonia and urea plants. In September 2004, another NPC team traveled to Syria to carry out the repair work and overhaul at the ammonia and urea plants. They fixed the cracking problem of the tubes of the ammonia plant's primary reformer. A separate team consisting of turbine, pump and cooling water specialists was also dispatched to GFC to provide the Syrian side with expert advice and consultancy.