In this period, the export of petrochemicals and gas condensates registered a 38.8 percent hike as compared to the same period of last year.

Another statistic indicated that Iran’s export of handwoven carpets and handicrafts registered a 4.7 percent growth from March 21 to July 23.

Over 35.7 million tons of products, valued at $17.3 billion, were exported from the country, showing a 6.4 percent decline and also a 22 percent hike in weight and value respectively.

Accordingly, the imports of non-oil goods into the country showed a 12.2 percent decline and a 16.8 percent hike in weight and value respectively, the report added.

Based on the report of the ministry country’s foreign trade value in the first four months of the current year hit about $28.9 billion, the rate of which stood at about $36.5 billion in the last year’s corresponding period.

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Director of Production Control in Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Alimohammad Bosaghzadeh pointed to five-month statistics for production and the four-month statistics for export of petrochemical products since the beginning of present Iranian year saying, “in the first five months, amount of production grew by six percent as compared to the similar period last year even though output figures normally drop in the first half of the year due to complete overhaul in complexes,” MNA reported.

The official, while voicing satisfaction towards the trend in production, estimated that the overall output level will grow by five million tons as compared to a year earlier.

He also underlined that efforts were being made to boost nominal capacity utilization to as high as 86 percent given that the figure for last year stood at 81 percent.

“Export volumes of petrochemical products have also risen in the ongoing year as the figures catapulted by 12 percent in volume and four percent in value.

Bosaghzadeh expressed hope that more feedstock will be supplied to petrochemical complexes in the second half of the year in a bid to realize a more sustainable production.

“In addition to development of the upstream sector, NPC has also put on agenda expansion of downstream projects with the aim of completing the production chain, which is turn, brings about a reduction in raw sales and an upsurge in sustainable employment opportunities,” he underlined.

The NPC official noted that a number of new petrochemical projects will come on stream later this year to further boost output capacity; “partnership of local banks and attraction of foreign investors can enhance the process.”

The production capacity for Iran’s petrochemical products is expected to reach 72 million tons worth 17 million dollars by the end of the present Iranian calendar year.

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Director of National Petrochemical Company (NPC) made the remarks on the sidelines of the 13th International Iran Petrochemical Forum (IPF 2017) on Saturday morning in Tehran.

“The Iranian petchem industry was warmly welcomed following sanctions removal and talks have been held with credible international companies like Shell and Total,” she added.

Shah-Daei, while noting that four cooperation agreements have been so far inked, said “Iranian firms and holdings could take the emerged opportunity to attract technology and investment to the country.”

The official said the foreign parties were conducting technical analysis in order to determine the precise amount of investment; “the petrochemical industry requires large volumes of investments hence the need to rely on foreign financers.”

NPC managing director went on to stress that the JCPOA paved the path for cooperation between Iranian and foreign firms as evidenced by increased presence of foreign parties inside the country.

Marzieh Shah-Daei, while referring to the need for 40 billion dollars of financial resources for investment in new petchem projects, enumerated major advantages of the Iranian industry including favorable geographical location, low production costs as well as feedstock diversity.

On resolving banking issues, she maintained that foreign firms had agreed to launch cooperation with banks in a bid to prepare grounds for guaranteed investment.

NPC head later emphasized that priority was given to projects which consume natural gas and help complete the production chain.

Production volume of the Iranian petrochemical industry has reached 62 million tons while the figure is expected to hit 72 million tons with inauguration of seven new complexes by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (to end March 21, 2018).

Last year, Iran deployed 21 million tons of petrochemical products worth 9.4 billion dollars to international markets.

National Petrochemical Company (NPC) of Iran is holding its 13th International Iran Petrochemical Forum (IPF 2017) with collaboration of Iranian Inc. for Contemporary International Conferences & Fairs (IICIC), on 22-23 April 2017 at IRIB Int’l Conference Center in Tehran, Iran.

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She said based on NPC’s plans, the country’s petrochemical output will reach 150 million tons per year within the next 10 years and for realization of the plans, Iran will need an investment of at least 55 billion dollars.
Iranian petrochemical plants can supply 64 million tons of petrochemicals annually but the capacity is estimated to cross 100 mt/y within the next 5 years.

The country is also planning to more than triple its petrochemical output and bring it to 180 mt/y by 2025.

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Speaking at a press conference, Director for Investment of National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Hossein Alimorad described the most major plans for attraction of investment to the country’s petrochemical industry saying “a contract has been recently inked with Japan’s Marubeni Corporation to reopen a 320-million-euro Line of Credit (LOC).”

The official also referred to new negotiations with yet another Japanese firm to reopen an LOC worth 640 million euros asserting “talks with the Japanese side are in final stages of drafting the contract which is estimated to be sealed within weeks.”

He also pointed to the visit of an Iranian delegation to Berlin at the invitation of Iran’s Embassy in Germany; “the trip aims to launch a fresh round of negotiations with banks, insurance firms as well as companies willing to make direct investment in the Iranian petchem industry.”

“Final agreement has been reached with Germany’s Hermes Insurance firm in the course of recent talks,” stressed Alimorad noting that the German side has agreed to take out insurance against new investments in petrochemical industries of Iran.

The NPC official also touched upon the held talks with German banks on attracting investment to the industry stating “a short-term scenario has been finalized based on which investment attraction will be performed under the guarantee of NPC as the government’s representative.”

In response to a question on the amount of investment by German companies, NPC’s director for investment said in the first step, agreement has been reached on reopening three billion euros of LOC while three to six more billion euros are expected to be opened in the second phase.

Negotiations have also been conducted with German firms on making 12 billion euros of new investment in Iran’s petrochemical industry

“Negotiations have also been conducted with German firms on making 12 billion euros of new investment in Iran’s petrochemical industry in addition to the three-billion-euro Line of Credit,” reiterated Alimorad adding “two senior officials of a giant German petchem company will soon travel to Tehran in order to finalize earlier talks as well as to evaluate NPC’s proposed economic projects.”

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Report: Facilitating investment in Iran petrochemical industry

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From 2008 to 2015, Iran’s petrochemical industry had not used finance and usance. But thanks to efforts by the administration of President Hassan Rouhani and the conclusion of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) we have been witnessing achievements in the petrochemical industry. Finalization of an agreement between Kian Petrochemical Plant and Germany’s Linde is a case in point.
The most important and the most practical measure by the Iranian government in favor of the private sector has been its efforts to win guarantee for foreign investment in the petrochemical sector. In the past, foreign companies invested in Iran because the government guaranteed exports of petrochemical products, but today there is no such a guarantee. Therefore, the government is seriously looking for a solution to resolve this problem. Germany’s BASF and Linde, France’s Axens, South Korea’s Hyundai, Royal Dutch Shell and South Africa’s Sasol are among top companies engaged in negotiations with Iran. All of them have been speaking about the issue of guaranteeing investment in Iran’s petrochemical industry. They know quite well that the rate of return on deposits in the banks is about one percent, while the rate of return on investment in Iran’s petrochemical projects is at least 20 percent.

Petchem Plants Startup

Over the past several years, Iran has been stepping up construction of petrochemical plants. According to official data, the number of operating petrochemical plants has increased from 46 in 2013 to 53 today with an output of 54 million tons a year. Three more petrochemical plants are projected to become operational in one month. Therefore, the rated capacity of these petrochemical plants will cross 64 million tons.

Furthermore, more than 50 other petrochemical plants with a nominal capacity of 41.3 million tons are under construction. Experts see the startup of these 50 projects as the second jump in Iran’s petrochemical industry to bring the country to its real standing in this sector.
Over the past two years, 11 petrochemical projects have come on-stream in Iran. Some of these projects are unique as they have become operational while Iran was international restrictions.

Some of them are as follows: hydrogenation unit of Shazand Petrochemical Plant, Petrochemical Research and Technology Company’s the semi-industrial HDPE unit, Fajr-2 centralized utility, Ilam HDPE unit, PBR/SBR unit of Takht Jamshid Petrochemical Plant, West Ethylene Pipeline’s 8th to 10th tranches, Lorestan HDPE/LDPE unit, Urmia Petrochemical Plant’s sulfuric acid unit, Mahabad Petrochemical Plant’s HDPE/LDPE unit, Shohada ammoniac/urea unit in Marvdasht, Assaluyeh ethylene glycol (Morvarid Petrochemical Plant) and the second phase of 11th olefin project (Kavian Petrochemical Plant).
The startup of petrochemical projects will continue in Iran. According to plans, 11 projects with a capacity of 6.2 million tons are to become operational this calendar year to March 2017. Furthermore, 6 other projects are forecast to come online next calendar year.

Petchem Sales Up in Iran

Conditions have improved for Iran’s petrochemical exports following the implementation of JCPOA last January. Iran’s petrochemical exports have grown 25% post-sanctions.

Over the past three years, Iran’s petrochemical sales has increased from 27.3 million tons to 39 million tons a year, earning the country $19.7 billion in revenue.
The value of Iran’s petrochemical exports is nearing its previous levels. In 2012, Iran gained $12 billion from petrochemical exports. Today, its revenue stands at $10 billion although oil prices have been almost halved.

Over these years, Iran’s petrochemical industry has always insisted on the completion of the value chain and downstream industries through proposing new development projects of high value-added and acceptable economic justification based on spatial planning studies with a view to exporting products, completing value chain for presentation to qualified investors, helping value engineering in petrochemical projects for reducing costs and providing infrastructure and utility for meeting the needs of the private sector.

Target-Oriented Petchem Projects

A gap created in the research and technology of Iran’s petrochemical industry due to widespread privatization in this industry over the past two years has been healed. Private companies, in cooperation with Petrochemical Research and Technology Company (PRTC), are constantly looking for making research projects practical and boosting cooperation with this state-run company. At present, the research and development network in Iran’s petrochemical industry is one of the largest networks in Iran.

Leading research centers towards practical studies and resolving problems of petrochemical industries have been among the effective measures taken by the current administration.
Helping acquire technical know-how for producing chemicals and catalysts needed in the petrochemical industry in collaboration with Iranian elite and the National Foundation of Elites and domestic capabilities like universities and PRTC, indigenizing technical savvy and engineering services including issuance of license, basic design of petrochemical products, helping commercialization of indigenized technical savvies, supporting domestic manufacturing of equipment needed in projects, cooperation with legal bodies for improving business environment, helping remove red tape and streamline bureaucracy, examining bottlenecks in manufacturing companies and finding solutions to them have all been on the agenda of the government.

The first chemical park in Iran, which is based on the styrene and butane value chain, has been envisaged in Pars Special Economic Energy Zone. The project, which has been privatized, will use 600,000 tons of styrene produced by Pars Petrochemical Company. The construction activities of the chemical park are steered by National Petrochemical Company (NPC).
Over the past three years, all those involved in Iran’s petrochemical industry have constantly focused on endogenous and practical research programs. Over this time they have made great achievements, some of which are as follows:

Technical savvy for olefin furnace, technical know-how for rotating packed bed (RPB), technical savvy for UHMWHD production, technical savvy for biodegradable polyethylene films in LDPE and LLDPE grades, technical savvy for HDPE process, technical savvy for two grades of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) production, technical savvy for producing epoxy vinyl ester, indigenization of technical knowledge for producing MMP high-density polyethylene, technical savvy for Netzer SB magnesium chloride and magnesium ethoxide, technical knowledge for producing Glycerol Monostearate (GMS), basic technical savvy for spherical gamma alumina, technical savvy for MEK catalyst, technical savvy for LTSC catalyst, basic technical design for ZnO Modified catalyst, technical savvy for isomerization catalyst for refineries, and technical savvy for alumina-based palladium for complete saturation process of olefins.
Over the past one and a half years, important contracts have been signed in petrochemical research and technology.

Awarding license for propylene-via-methanol (PVM) process to Sabzevar Petrochemical Plant, awarding license for methanol production process to Sabzevar Petrochemical Plant, awarding license for the production of two catalysts for polyethylene production (IRSAC 518 and IRSAC 3530) to Lorestan Petrochemical Company, awarding license for dehydrogenation catalyst to Exir Farayand Novin company (used at Bandar Imam Petrochemical Plant), awarding license for methanol catalyst production (Sadr Shimi Company), awarding license of catalyst (EDC 6) to Gohar Saram Company, signing research contract for acquiring technical savvy for naphtha isomerization catalyst to be used at Isfahan refinery, contract for applying technical knowhow for polymer concrete with PRTC for repairing concrete structures at Mobin Petrochemical Plant, production and sale of 800 kilograms of MEK 9 catalyst to Shimi Tax Aria, production and loading of 1.5 tons of dry reforming catalyst for Khuzestan Petrochemical Plant and joint cooperation with Hampa Energy Hedco for mastering ammoniac technical know-how.
PRTC, as the research arm of Iran’s petrochemical industry, has achieved good results from the catalysts it has produced in industrial tests. These results include the production of 1.5 tons of dry reforming catalyst for Khuzestan Petrochemical Plant, production of 800 kilograms of catalyst for Shimi Tax Aria Company, production of 1.5 tons of IRSAC 510 (similar to THS) for Maroun, Amir-Kabir and Shazand petrochemical plants, production of 50 kilograms of PZ catalyst for Mitsui polyethylene for Bandar Imam Petrochemical Plant, production of 20 kilograms of dehydrogenation catalyst for Bandar Imam Petrochemical Plant, production of 60 kilograms of DLP peroxide for Bandar Imam Petrochemical Plant, production of 600 kilograms of methanol catalyst, production of 30 tons EDC catalyst with its own technology for Bandar Imam Petrochemical Plant, production of three batches of 50-kilogram MMP catalyst for HDPE demo consumption at the Arak center of the company, production of 20 kilograms of acetic acid catalyst for Fanavaran Petrochemical Company and successful replacement of catalyst at Jam Petrochemical Company.

New Technologies for Petchem Sector

Today the state-of-the-art oil and gas technologies could be seen at petrochemical plants across the globe. Due to its high value-added, this industry has always encouraged investors to benefit from cutting edge technologies. In Iran, in spite of restrictions, experts and researchers are in quest for new technologies. They try their best to apply new technologies to new projects. For instance, meticulous studies have been conducted to prevent sale of raw substances and complete the value chain and create new capacities for high-value products like propylene. Over the past two years, lots of activities have been done in this sector. For instance, 52 new projects have been introduced for implementation under the 6th Five-Year Economic Development Plan and afterwards with a view to completing the production chain, location of new petrochemical development projects, making new estimates and envisaging feedstock needed for new petrochemical projects.

Among other important activities of the 11th administration regarding petrochemicals are the formation of specialized working groups like the working group for removal of obstacles to production, settlement of disputes between companies, settlement of disputescompanies. between companies and the stock market in setting feedstock prices and clearing accounts of privatized

By Javad Asghari, Source: Iran Petroleum

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He said since the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal in January, tens of Italian economic activists have visited Iran to explore investment opportunities in the country, IRNA reported.

The Italian official said that given Iran’s attractive oil and gas industries, stronger cooperation is expected to come about between major Iranian and Italian companies.

“The Iranian petrochemical industry, as a vanguard in economic growth, is in dire need of investment and development,” Giardini said.

Corradini said that Italian companies are also willing to invest in Iranian small- and medium-sized downstream oil and gas industries.

He added that Italy enjoys technology in the small- and medium-sized industries and Italian companies want to enter talks with Iranians for sale of equipment and investment in the industry.

After Germany, Italy is Iran’s second major trade partner, and it seems that cooperation between the two countries in the petrochemical field is not an unattainable goal, said the Italian diplomat.

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Director of Production Control in Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Alimohammad Bosaghzadeh expressed satisfaction towards production volume of Iranian petrochemicals in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-October 21); “the figure rose up by six per cent as compared with the corresponding period a year ago.”

The official touched upon oil price fluctuations and their effects on competitive conditions of the market in the Persian Gulf explaining “current situations harm all parties, NPC, however, seeks to control prices in the Middle and Far East.”

He further noted that large portion of Iran’s petrochemical exports are made to Far East and countries such as India, China and South Korea.

Bosaghzadeh also stressed that Africa offers good conditions for imports of Iranian petrochemical products and efforts are being made to boost export figures to the African region.

Bosaghzadeh said that good talks were made about petrochemical exports to Europe in Germany’s Düsseldorf during K Trade Fair from 19 to 26 October.

Iran’s petrochemical exports are being deployed to the western and eastern Europe

“Currently, Iran’s petrochemical exports are being deployed to the western and eastern European states like Germany, Britain and Hungary,” he underscored.

The official said that Iran’s petrochemical output hit 28.7 million tons during the first four months of the current Iranian year adding “over 21 petrochemical complexes have had surplus output in the time frame spanning from March 20 to October 21.”

“Conditions of Iran’s petrochemical industry became more favorable as a result of several measures take in the first half of the current Iranian year including overhaul in both upstream and downstream, feedstock supply as well as diverse production,” the NPC official continued.

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The increased petrochemical volumes will include a wide variety of products like gas condensate, basic chemicals, polymers, fertilizers, and aromatic products, said Ali Mirmohammad, the senior consultant and business development manager for Iran for the Texas-based consultancy, Platts reported.

However, Iran will focus on methanol along the value chain particularly polypropylene, dimethyl ether, formaldehyde, MTBE, methylamine, and acetic acid.

Methanol to polypropylene will have a key focus, Mirmohammad said.

“Polypropylene, apart from other polymers, has a broad level of use in many industries especially in automotive, home appliances and other sectors especially in pharmaceuticals and for food packaging. Polypropylene is safer, more economical than polyethylene, than PVC, so more demand for polypropylene [is expected],” he said.

Mirmohammad further said in a presentation that from five million ton currently the installed capacity of methanol could increase to more than 24 million tons by the end of 2020. This may be ramped up to 34 million tons by the end of 2025.

In the next 10 years Iran aims to export valuable products from methanol, the presentation showed.

In the next three years the country aims to be one of the top producers and exporters of the region.

Mining and manufacturing are also expected to see significant growth, with the former showing a 25-percent annual growth rate by 2025 from only 9.8 percent in 2015 and the latter increasing to 11.2 percent from 6.7 percent.

Mirmohammad said Iran was seeking to reduce dependence on oil and gas, as part of the government’s new roadmap announced last year, with more downstream applications developed in the country.

These petrochemical-based products included home appliances, pharmaceuticals, polymers used in automotives, rubber and plastic, he added.

Iran requires $80 billion to petrochemical industry development plans

Iran requires around $80 billion to push through with its petrochemical industry development plans by the end of 2025, Mirmohammad said.

If successful, these investments could boost exports for the entire petrochemical industry value chain from less than $13 billion in 2015 to more than $41 billion in the next 10 years, he said.

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The MoU was signed by NPC CEO Marziyeh Shahdaei and Hans Nijkamp, the head of the department for Iran affairs at Royal Dutch Shell.

Nijkamp was quoted by the media as saying that the signing of the MOU came after months of negotiations between the two companies.

Iran’s deputy petroleum minister for international affairs, expressed optimism that petrochemical projects between Shell and the NPC would be launched

“We believe that we can have joint projects in the petrochemical field with the NPC,” he said.

“This document will provide us with a framework for more project discussions with the NPC.”

Shahdaei, for her part, emphasize that the NPC has serious plans to increase its production to 160 million tons per year by 2025 from the current volume of 60 million tons per year.

Also, Amir-Hossein Zamaninia, Iran’s deputy petroleum minister for international affairs, expressed optimism that petrochemical projects between Shell and the NPC would be launched soon.

“With the wisdom that we see in the people working in our country’s petrochemical industry, without a doubt the projects of the NPC will be executed sooner than oil and gas projects,” he said, according to Shana.

The company was involved in the development of Iran’s Soroush and Norouz oil fields in Persian Gulf waters. It was also planning to develop a gas liquefaction project called Persian LNG in Iran’s South Pars energy zone. However, it later cancelled its plans to that effect as a result of the sanctions.

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