Projects Underway to Help Increase Iran Petrochemical Output: When six petrochemical projects come on stream, the industry’s annual feedstock capacity will increase by 15 million tons, head of the National Petrochemical Company said.

The six projects that are scheduled to come online by next March are expected to be completed at a cost of $8.3 billion, ISNA reported Behzad Mohammadi as saying. Kangan Petro Refining Company is one of the petrochemical and refinery projects underway in southern Bushehr Province.

When operational “it will refine the gas received from South Pars phase 12 and supply 3.5 million tons of value-added products to the downstream sector per year”, he said.

Another project is the Persian Gulf Bid Boland Gas Refinery in southwest Khuzestan Province. The refinery, which is nearing the final phase, will help feed petrochemical plants in southern regions and supply 48 million cubic meters of natural gas a day to the national gas network.

“Other projects include Parsian Sepehr Refinery, with two plants in Fars and Bushehr province, and three Natural gas liquid projects, namely Dehloran Gas Refinery in Ilam Province, Kharg NGL Plant on Kharg Island off the Persian Gulf and the NGL 3200 project in West Karoun area in the west,” Mohammadi was quoted as saying.

NGL, or natural gas liquids, are components of natural gas that are separated from the gas state in the form of liquids.

Natural gas liquids are valuable as separate products. Ethane, propane, butane, isobutane, and pentane are all NGLs used for a variety of purposes, as inputs for petrochemical plants, burned for space heating and cooking, and blended into vehicle fuel.

Iran is striving to diversify its economy that is largely dependent on oil export and make better use of its hydrocarbon reserves by producing goods and petrochemicals with higher value in international markets. The petrochemical sector is the second-most important industry after oil and gas. Improvement and optimization of petrochemical plants is underway to boost productivity and contribute to national growth.

A total of 55 companies in Iran annually produce 55 million tons of petrochemicals for the domestic and international markets. Local companies and industries account for 30% of the output and 70% is exported. Source: Financial Tribune