Iranian, French firms ink petchem agreement

Iran’s Exir Novin and France’s Axens have signed an agreement to co-produce catalysts required for petrochemical plants and refineries. The agreement was made during the recent visit of Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, to Paris, Shana news agency reported on January 31. The products are for both domestic and international markets.

The catalysts are being used by Iran’s Bandar Imam, Bou Ali, Nouri, and Karoun petrochemical plants, and the Isfahan refinery.

Linde, Mitsui offer $4bn investment in Iran

German’s Linde and Japan’s Mitsui have offered to invest $4bn between them in two Iranian petrochemical projects.

The projects manager at Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC), Marzieh Shahdaei, said companies that had negotiated with the NPC before the lifting of sanctions had come for final talks about the projects, IRNA news agency reported on February 1.

Linde and Mitsui will jointly invest in a number of projects, including Damavand, he said, adding “of course, the projects related to them have not been yet finalized.”

Iran had a contract with Linde to build a giant LNG plant, but Linde refused to supply the equipment owing to sanctions being imposed when the plant was still half-built.

The managing director of NPC, Abbas Sha’rimoqaddam, has said that the country is planning to attract about $70bn in foreign direct investment in its petrochemical sector by 2025. 

The official added that following the conclusion of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and world powers, many companies from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands had already sent delegations to Iran, discussing opportunities for future cooperation.

“Various countries from Asia and Europe have come to us” to negotiate investment opportunities in Iran's energy sector, the official said, adding that European companies had been more enthusiastic in this regard.

In October, Sha’rimoqaddam said NPC welcomed the return of Japan’s Mitsubishi and Mitsui to its petrochemical projects. He said Mitsubishi and Mitsui had a satisfactory performance in different sections of Iran’s petrochemical industry.

Adding capacity

Damavand Petrochemical Plant will add 30mn mt/year from 2019, according to the managing director of Damavand Petrochemical Company, Hossein Shahriyari. That will equal half existing capacity of 60mn mt/year. Some €3bn are needed to put the petrochemical plant into operation, he noted.

Iran produces far less than its capacity but it plans to raise output to 52mn mt in the next Iranian fiscal year, which begins on March 21, NPC's production-control director Ali-Mohammad Bassaqzadeh said on January 25.

It is anticipated that the country’s petrochemical production will rise by 8%-12% next year, he said, adding that the operating units will account for 7% and the rest will be secured by new units which are being built.

The country’s petrochemical output will reach 47mn mt.year by the end of the current year, he noted.