28 March 2006 - 11:03
  • News ID: 81880

Assaluyeh port city was once nothing but a poor village where few people lived. It has now turned into beating heart of domestic economy. When you enter the port, the first thing that catches your eyes is the flame of flares installed at gas refineries, but magnificence and highness of petrochemical towers is something else. After many years of selling crude oil, petrochemical industry was introduced into Iran some 41 years ago and now big petrochemical plans implemented in Assaluyeh region, which are among the biggest of their kind in the world, are coming of age.

The National Petrochemical Company designed five development plans for petrochemical industry in 1996, which were inspired by economic, cultural and social development plans of Iran. One year after design of plans was complete and after Seyed Mohammad Khatami was elected president, implementation of those plans officially started. New plans were carried out in Bandar Imam Special Economic Petrochemical Zone and Pars Special Economic Energy Zone (Assaluyeh) while other plans were implemented in other regions including Khorasan, Tabriz, and Shiraz. However, petrochemical projects considered for Pars Special Economic Energy Zone in Assaluyeh region were based on plentiful, inexpensive feed produced through developing South Pars gas field. Since there is good market for products of underway plans, total investment in petrochemical projects in Assaluyeh region has been projected to hit 20 billion dollars by 2011 and needed money will be supplied by domestic and foreign private sectors. Although magnificence of petrochemical projects underway in the region at a temperature which crosses 50 degrees centigrade mark cannot be summarized here, a short review of those projects will be presented here. Implementation of petrochemical projects in Assaluyeh region started in 2000 when 1,000 hectares land was initially allocated to the purpose and, later, 400 hectares was redeemed from the sea. At present, 10 petrochemical projects including eight production and two service projects are being implemented within frame of the first phase of Assaluyeh petrochemical projects through investing 7 billion dollars. Petrochemical production plans in Assaluyeh include two ammonia and urea plans, two olefin plans, one aromatic and one ethane production plan while service plans include centralized utilities plant for supplying needed utilities to petrochemical production plants as well as Pars petrochemical port, which is designed to export petrochemical products produced by those plants. The plans were chosen on the basis of two main factors; namely inexpensive feedstock in the region and suitable market for the end products. The main feed for methanol as well as ammonia and urea plans is natural gas, which is supplied by various phases of South Pars gas field. Four methanol and fertilizer plants consume a total of eight million cu. m. natural gas per day supplied by South Pars gas field. Olefin plans need ethane gas, which is a mixture of a special hydrocarbon substance in addition to 4-5 percent natural gas. Aromatic plant of Assaluyeh is fed with gas condensate which include five-carbon and bigger hydrocarbon compounds. Ethane, propane, butane and liquefied petroleum gas are separated by ethane production unit and used as feedstock. Therefore, the main factor for choosing plans was access to natural gas resources and high quality of feedstock. Another factor is suitable market for end products. Since consumption of polymers and plastics is increasing in the world and they are replacing metals, they enjoy good domestic and foreign markets. Methanol has many applications in industries and in producing high grade fuel and there is good market for 3.3 million tons methanol produced in the region. In view of burgeoning population and more need to food in the world, there is high demand for chemical fertilizers, the most important of which is urea fertilizer, in foodstuff and agriculture sectors. Urea product produced in Iran will have very good markets in the future. Other urea plants in the world use the expensive naphtha feedstock while their Iranian counterparts use inexpensive and plentiful natural gas produced by South Pars gas field and they are experts have forecasted that urea plants using naphtha feedstock will be shut down in coming years. At present, domestic consumption of urea fertilizer stands at about 2 million tons, of which 500,000 tons is imported. Therefore, meeting domestic demand is the first goal for urea fertilizer projects. Fertilizer plants that are being constructed in Assaluyeh region will be producing 2 million tons urea per year of which 25 percent will be consumed inside the country and the rest will be exported. Urea and ammonia plant of Ghadir Petrochemical Complex is being built in two phases and the second phase has been designed for annual production of 75,000 tons ammonia, 1.075 million tons ammonium sulfate, which is used in agriculture and in producing chemical fertilizers. Total investment in the plan has been estimated at 220 million dollars and 500 billion rials. The first phase of the plant will be inaugurated in the near future. The ninth olefin plan is being implemented by Polymer Arya Sasul Company. Some 50 percent of the company is owned by the South African Sasul Company. The plant will produce 400,000 tons ethylene, 90,000 tons carbon-3 cut, 300,000 tons medium and heavy polyethylene as well as 300,000 tons light polyethylene. Ethane production plant of Pars Petrochemical Complex was the first petrochemical project in Assaluyeh to be officially inaugurated in early 2006. The plant is capable of annual production of 1.5 million tons ethane gas. It should have been inaugurated earlier, but problems faced by the Iranian contractor, postponed is inauguration. Although some delay in implementing petrochemical projects is acceptable, but installation contractor of the project could not fulfill its commitments and was subsequently replaced with another contractor. This process was the main reason for delayed inauguration of the plant. Other plants which are being built at Pars Petrochemical Complex include styrene monomer, ethane production, polystyrene, and ethyl benzene plants. The tenth olefin plant, which is being built at Jam Petrochemical Complex with annual capacity of 1.32 million tons ethylene (220,000 tons of which can be sold), will yield about 2.24 million tons salable products and is considered the worlds biggest olefin plant. Also, methanol plant of Zagros Petrochemical Complex is being built in Assaluyeh region in two phases. The first phase will produce 1.65 million tons per year petrochemicals while the second phase will yield 1.65 million tons per year methanol. Its feedstock comprises natural gas and oxygen and will be supplied by Pars Oil and Gas Company as well as Mobin Petrochemical Company. The fourth aromatic plant of Borzouyeh Petrochemical Complex is expected to produce 4.479 million tons petrochemicals per year and is considered the worlds biggest aromatic plant. When in full swing, it will yield paraxylene, benzene and orthoxylene. Its feedstock will include 270,000 tons benzene pyrolysis and 4.5 million tons gas liquids per year which will be supplied by phases 1, 2, and 3 of South Pars gas field. Mobin utilities plan is another important plan, which is underway in the region. None of the abovementioned petrochemical plants could work in the absence of a utility complex. At present, 12 utility projects are being implemented at Mobin Petrochemical Complex. Thus far, plants producing electricity, water steam, compressed air, instrument, oxygen, nitrogen and fresh water have become operational and necessary pipelines have been constructed between petrochemical plants in the region and Mobin Petrochemical Complex. Two major projects are being carried out to procure seawater which will cool production units and to treat industrial wastewater. Completion of both projects has been postponed because the first one is a very big project while the second one has been delayed because gathering needed information and basic design of the system has been delayed. Seawater supply project for cooling petrochemical production units is being implemented by SADRA Company at a cost of 250 million dollars. The main pool of the project is ready for commissioning. The project includes installation of 19 electric pumps. Every one of those pumps is capable of transferring 100,000 cu. m. seawater and comprises rotors that are 7.5 meters in diameter. Seawater suction pump includes a 1,100-m tunnel which should project into the sea for one kilometer to make pumping cool water from deep sea possible. Building the tunnel will take a long time. The project, which is the biggest of its kind in the world, can pump 380,000 cu. m. per hour or 10 million cu. m. per day seawater. Since water consumption in Tehran amounts to 2.8 million cu. m. in a hot summer day, the amount of water which will be pumped through this project for petrochemical production plants in Assaluyeh region will be about three times higher than water consumption in Tehran. The huge project is being carried out by an Iranian company by Iranian specialists. When fully operational, utility facilities of Mobin Petrochemical Complex will supply 740 MW of electricity, 2,130 tons per hour steam, 374,000 cu. m. cooling water per hour, 2,290 cu. m. per hour boiler water, 31,000 cu. m. per hour compressed air and 48,000 cu. m. per hour nitrogen to petrochemical plants located in Assaluyeh region. However, even total capacity of utilities provided by Mobin Petrochemical Complex does not suffice petrochemical plants which will be built in the second phase of development of Pars Special Economic Energy Zone. When actual need of those plants is known, Mobin Petrochemical Complex will be developed or another utility complex will be constructed. In addition to the said plans, the National Petrochemical Company is building Pars petrochemical port for exporting petrochemical products made by the abovementioned plants. The eastern wing of Pars petrochemical port includes two docks for exporting liquid petrochemicals and dock No. 14 of the eastern wing can accommodate ships up to a capacity of 40,000 tons. It has been considered for exporting liquefied petroleum gas produced by phases 4 and 5 of South Pars gas field. Dock No. 15 is being built to export ammonia and can accommodate ships up to a capacity of 50,000 tons. It will become operational before inauguration of ammonia plant of Pars Special Economic Energy Zone. The western wing of Pars petrochemical port is 3.7 km long and includes five docks for liquid exports. Eight docks for exporting solid petrochemicals are being built between the eastern and western wings. The said eight docks will become operational concurrent with petrochemical plants. Urea fertilizer, which is the first priority of the National Petrochemical Company for exporting petrochemical products produced in Assaluyeh, will be taken to ships as bulk and without packaging via railroad. Of course, it can be also exported in the packed form. Pars petrochemical port plan includes 15 docks and will be capable of annual export of 24 million tons liquid and 6 million ton solid petrochemicals. About 300 hectares land has been redeemed from the sea for implementation of petrochemical plans related to the second phase of development plan of Pars Special Economic Energy Zone. Second phase plans will be carried out over 800 hectares. Necessary lines of credit have been opened for the implementation of the 11th olefin plan, but due to managerial changes in National Petrochemical Company, no new plan related to the second phase has thus far been implemented. Implementation of petrochemical projects within frame of 10-year perspective plan of the region will be a major development for Irans petrochemical industry.
News ID 81880

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