Addressing a virtual ceremony to launch the olefin and sulfur recovery units of Ilam Petrochemical Plant on Thursday, Jafar Rabiei said 71% of the equipment in this phase were provided by domestic companies.

He also announced that the Persian Gulf Bidboland megaproject would come on stream in the following days. 

Rabiei stated that the installation, commissioning and launching of the second phase of Ilam Petrochemical Plant had been carried out without the presence of foreign experts and companies and with the efforts of Iranian experts.

The second phase of the plant was constructed with 866 million euros of investment, he said. 

The units have come on stream with a total production capacity of 750,000 tons per year and an investment of €866 million.

Construction of the plant began on 2003 with 4 process units of SRU, olefin, heavy polyethylene and ancillary services with the aim of completing the value chain, removing poverty in the region and generation of jobs. 

The heavy polyethylene unit and ancillary services of Ilam Petrochemical Plant officially came online in 2014. By inauguration of the olefin unit, the feedstock of the heavy polyethylene unit, which has been received from the West Ethylene Pipeline, will be supplied from this unit.

The SRU of the facility was developed with €56m of investment and has been built to sweeten the olefin feedstock. The sweetened feedstock will be transferred to the olefin unit for production of ethylene, propylene, pyrolysis gasoline and liquid fuel.

The SRU is fed by 349,000 tons of C3+ fraction and heavier sulfur fractions and 416,000 tons of C5+ fraction and heavier sulfur fractions, and the annual production capacity of this unit is 331,000 tons of desulfurized of C3+ fraction and heavier and 401,000 tons of C5+ fraction and heavier.

The share of domestic construction in the SRU is an average of 72.5 percent, including engineering, construction, installation and manufacturing of equipment. 

The unit is licensed by Axens and built by Iran’s Energy Industries Engineering and Design (EIED).

Furthermore, the olefin unit is fed by 233,000 tons of ethane, 328,000 tons of C3+ and heavier fractions and 391,000 tons of C5+ and heavier fractions per year. The unit is designed to yield 458,000 tons of ethylene, 124,000 tons of propylene, 132,000 tons of pyrolysis gasoline and 33,000 tons of liquid fuel annually.

The unit is financed by €810 million, and the total value of the unit's annual production is $439 million and the surplus sales value is $235 million. 305,000 tons of ethylene produced by olefin unit is consumed in heavy polyethylene unit and sale of the surplus ethylene is 153,000 tons.

70% of construction of the olefin unit, including engineering, building, installation and equipment manufacture, was completed domestically. This unit was licensed by UK’s Stone&Webster Limited. 

The two units generate 1,700 jobs during its installation, and 250 direct and 870 indirect jobs while operating. 

Iranian Investment Petrochemical Group Company (IIPGC), a subsidiary of the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC) is the main stockholder of Ilam Petrochemical Company.