Phase 2 of the plant was commissioned Tuesday in a video conference ceremony by order of President Masoud Pezeshkian, with Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad in attendance.

The plant’s olefin unit, built with an investment of $604 million, has an annual capacity of 1.09 million tons for the production of ethylene and polyethylene. It has created 688 direct jobs. The monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit, built with an investment of $456 million, has a capacity of 554,000 tons for use in polyesters and antifreeze. It has created 317 direct jobs.

The Bushehr Petrochemical Plant was designed and built in three phases across three separate sites: a 10-hectar sweetening site adjacent to South Pars phases 6, 7 and 8 for sour gas sweetening; a 20-hectar northern site for ethane and methanol extraction units as Phase 1; and a 40-hectar southern site for the olefin and MEG units as Phase 2.

Together, these three phases form a complete chain for supplying feedstock and utilities and producing high-value-added petrochemical products. Phase 1 of the massive complex includes sweetening, ethane extraction, methanol, air separation unit (ASU) and reverse osmosis (RO) units. Phase 2 includes the offsite utility, olefin, and MEG units as the main part of its development.

The olefin unit, the heart of Phase 2, receives its feedstock from the complex’s ethane extraction unit. Its output is used as feedstock in the complex’s MEG and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) units, with 300,000 tons of surplus sold to other plants. The MEG unit receives its required feedstock from the ethylene unit, and its product is exported. The complex’s offsite utility units are responsible for providing ancillary services and establishing the necessary connecting lines for the phase.

Commercial Shastan Investment Company, with a 60% share, and Maroun Petrochemical Company, with a 40% share, are the shareholders of the Bushehr Petrochemical Plant.