A polypropylene plant contract is awarded to Tecnimont-Nargan

The National Petrochemical Company (NPC) awarded, on September 17, 2000, the contract for a polypropylene (PP) plant of its 7th olefin facility to Italy's Tecnimont SPA. The plant will be built in Bandar Imam, Petrochemical Special Economic Zone (Petzone). The 300 Kt/a homopolymer/copolymer polypropylene plant will be based on the Montel's technology.
The contract calls for the provision of license, basic engineering, supply of equipment and technical assistance.
The plant will be fed by Marun (olefin no. 7) Complex's 1.1m t/y ethylene cracker. Marun Petrochemical Company, which is an NPC subsidiary will implement and
run the project.
Tecnimont's partner, Iran's Nargan will provide the detailed engineering and those pieces of equipment that are manufactured locally. The facility will be supplied within 24 months.

Tecnimont and PIDEC win the contract for an ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol plant

On September 17, 2000, NPC awarded the contract for the ethylene oxide/ ethylene glycol plant of its 7th olefin facility to Italy's Tecnimont SPA and the Iranain contractor PIDEC. The plant will have the capacity of 320 Kt/a ethylene oxide equivalent to 400 Kt/a monoethylene glycol (MEG) and 43 Kt/a of di- and tri-ethylene (DEG/TEG). The contract will be based on Shell technology. It covers the provision of license, basic engineering, supply of equipment and technical assistance for the facility, which is part of Marun Petrochemical Complex (7th Olefin) located in Bandar Imam, Petrochemical Special Economic Zone (Petzone).
Marun's ethylene cracker will feed the plant. Tecnimont's partner, Iran's PIDEC will provide the detailed engineering and those pieces of equipment that are manufactured locally. The facility will be supplied within 27 months.
An NPC subsidiary, Marun Petrochemical Company is responsible for implementing and running the project.

Japanese consortium and their Iranian partner win PTA-2 contract

A Japanese consortium of TOMEN, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC) and their Iranian partner Chagalesh won a contract for the NPC's 2nd purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant.
The contract calls for the provision of basic engineering, supply of equipment and technical assistance for the world's largest PTA facility, which will be built in the vicinity of the 1st PTA plant at Petzone on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf.
The facility will be based on MCC's technology and will produce 350,000 tons of PTA per year. It will use paraxylene
and acetic acid as its feedstock that will be supplied by the nearby 3rd aromatic and acetic acid plants, which are already under construction in the Zone. The consortium will employ its advanced process and state of the art technology in constructing the plant.
Iran's Chagalesh will provide the detailed engineering and those pieces of equipment that are manufactured locally. The facility will be supplied within 37 months. PTA-2 will feed the nearby 396,000-t/y PET-2 project, which is due onstream around the same time.
Shahid Tondguyan Petrochemical Company (STPC), an NPC subsidiary, is responsible for implementing and running the project.

NPC awards the 9th ethylene facility contract to Technip and Nargan

The National Petrochemical Company (NPC) awarded, on September 18, 2000, a lumpsum contract for the ethylene cracker of its 9th olefin project to TECHNIP of France. The contract covers basic & detailed engineering, procurement and supply of equipment and materials, supervision during construction and commissioning as well as training services.
Technip will use its in-house technology for the one-million ton/year plant. Its engineering center in Rome will manage the contract's activities while the company's center in the Hague will design the cracker's furnaces.
Iran's Nargan, Technip's partner to the project, will carry out the detailed engineering and procurement and will supply equipment and materials of local origin.
The project will be financed through a multi-source-financing scheme. The ethane-based facility, one of the world's largest ethylene production plants, will be located in Pars Special Economic/Energy Zone (ParsEE), also known as Asaluyeh, on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf. It will provide feed for the facility's downstream units. The plant will be delivered in 28 months from the date contract is effective.
The NPC subsidiary, Pars Petrochemical Company, is responsible for executing and running the plant.
Olefin no. 9 is NPC's first olefin plant in ParsEE. NPC has so far planned for another world-scale olefin plant in the same area.

NPC awards a gas separation contract to Linde & Nargan

On September 6, 2000, the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) awarded a contract to Germany's Linde AG to build the world's largest gas separation plant for NPC.
The contract includes the provision of basic engineering, supply of equipment and technical assistance for the facility, which will be built at Pars Special Economic/Energy Zone (ParsEE) in the vicinity of the Persian Gulf.

The facility will process 3 million Nm3 per hour of natural gas from phases 1, 2 and 3 of the South Pars gas field in two parallel trains. The gas separation plant will supply the feedstock required by the NPC's world-scale olefin 9th and 10th facilities that will be built at ParsEE as well. It will supply ethane to the 9th olefin facility and propane, excess ethane and gasoline to the neighboring 10th olefin facility.
Linde will use its advanced "natural gas expander process with propylene refrigerant precooling". Linde's partner, Iran's Nargan will provide the detailed engineering and those pieces of equipment that are manufactured locally. The facility is scheduled for completion in 2003.
Pars Petrochemical Company, an NPC subsidiary, is responsible for implementing and running the project.

Shell, NIOC and NPC to study Gas to Liquids (GTL) development in Iran

The National Petrochemical Company (NPC), the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Shell International Gas Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding on September 11, 2000 to study the development of a Gas to Liquids (GTL) facility fed by natural gas from the giant South Pars gas field, on the Persian Gulf.
NPC, NIOC and Shell will investigate
the prospects for a 70,000-b/d GTL conversion plant requiring a gas intake of around 600 mmscf/d, roughly equivalent to the gas input of a large NGL train. The facility will utilize Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis (SMDS) process as currently employed in the Shell's 12,000-b/d facility in Bintulu, Malaysia which is the only commercial-scale GTL conversion plant of its type in existence. In addition, the plant will produce up to 10,000 tons per day of fresh water suitable for irrigation.
The implementation of the project would be based on a joint venture between
Shell and NPC for the onshore part.

The study is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2001 and the plant will be put into commercial operation by the end of 2005.
Iran possesses the world's second largest gas reserves and GTL is a good possibility for commercializing the reserves. By converting gas into ultra clean liquid products, GTL projects can bring added environmental benefits.

NPC to build a fertilizer plant in ParsEE

NPC has decided to build a world-scale ammonia/urea complex in Pars Special Economic/Energy Zone (ParsEE), also known as Asaluyeh, on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf. The giant South Pars gas field will feed the complex. It will have a capacity of 2050-t/d of ammonia and 3250-t/d of urea. Tender documents for the project will be floated in the near future for both local and foreign contractors. The contract will cover provision of license, detailed and basic engineering, equipment supply and technical assistance during installation, construction and start-up.

Razi's urea granulation contract to be awarded in October

NPC expects to award the contract for its subsidiary's urea granulation project in October 2000. Negotiations for the project are currently approaching final stage. The urea granulation project will be implemented at Razi Petrochemical Complex.

Final negotiations for Methanol 4th, LAB and PA/DOP projects to kick off in October

NPC has received techno-economic proposals for its huge no. 4 methanol, Kermanshah linear alkyl-benzene (LAB) and Esfahan phthalic anhyride (PA) and di-octyle phthalate (DOP) projects. Technical and contractual negotiations with bidders for these projects will be launched in the month of October.