Managing Director of Tamin Petroleum & Petrochemical Investment Company (TAPPICO) Mohammad Hassan Peyvandi said once a number of petrochemical projects come online by 2018, Iran’s total methanol output will reach 10 million tons per year from currently 5 mt/y.
Addressing an oil conference here in Tehran on Tuesday, Peyvandi said Iran consumes only 0.4mt/y of the item, adding another 3 mt/y will be added to the country’s methanol output once new petrochemical projects like Kaveh Petrochemical Plant come on-stream next year.
Moreover, Bushehr and Arian petrochemical plants will bring Iran’s methanol output to 10 mt/y by 2018, the official said.
“With the cooperation of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) in allocation of land, TAPPICO will launch a methanol-to-propylene unit by next year which will consume 1.5 million tons of methanol annually,” he said.
He said most petrochemical plants in Iran are fed by natural gas which is a cheap feedstock compared to other forms of feedstock.
An olefin unit fed by ethane is cost 60% less than a unit that is fed by liquids or naphtha for construction, he said.
The official said privatization of the petrochemical industry as well as low oil prices in the global oil and gas market have caused a slowdown in the petrochemical industry in Iran in recent years.