Deputy Petroleum Minister and NPC President, Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh has received the State's First Class Medal of Merit and Management recognizing his meritorious role and outstanding services in developing Iran's petrochemical sector. The Medal was bestowed on him by the outgoing Iranian President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami. Ever since he took over as the NPC President in September 1997,the company has launched an aggressive investment program placing NPC on the verge of becoming a new global force in petrochemicals .With its current expansion program ,NPC is setting its sights on increasing both its non-oil exports and its share of the global petrochemical market.

      


An NPC subsidiary, NPC International (NPCI) has agreed to acquire a 60 percent stake in a new company that will take over the Philippines' Bataan Polyethylene (BPC) located in the main island of Luzon. NPCI signed the share purchase deal with the Filipino group Metro Alliance Holdings and Equities. The new company is named NPC Alliance Corp. BPC owns a 275,000 tonne/year linear low-density polyethylene (lldPE)/high-density polyethylene (hdPE) swing plant. NPCI and Metro Alliance Holdings and Equities had earlier signed a long-term contract for the supply of feedstock to the BPC.







To further enhance the support of senior and top management in Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) matters, a training program on "Strategic HSE Management" was arranged by Arthur D. Little Ltd., UK (ADL). It consisted of five one-day workshops two days each in Assaluyeh and Mahshahr and one day in Tehran. The workshops were well attended by NPC top management. Subsequent to the workshops, another training program was conducted by ADL in Tehran for three weeks and in Mahshahr for one week. Topics covered at this practice-oriented program, which was meant for HSE professionals, included: Implementing effective HSE Management System, Risk Management & HAZOP, Accident Investigation and Audit Skills. It was decided to have a pool of auditors from the participants who will develop a common HSE audit to audit all the plant on that basis. Similarly, a team of accident investigators is also being formed from the participants in the course. The team will develop a procedure for investigating major incidents happened in NPC and will give recommendations to avoid recurrence of similar type incidents.