Behzad Mohammadi,
speaking on Thursday, said one of the most important projects of the Ministry
of Petroleum was the development of petrochemical industries.
Addressing a
ceremony to start construction of Songhor Petrochemical Projects in the western
province of Kermanshah, the official expressed optimism that the Persian Gulf
Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC), the mother company of the project,
would exert efforts to bring it online within 12 to 14 months.
PGPIC has
invested nearly 40 million dollars for construction of the project.
The plant will
be built with 48,000 tons per year of production capacity on 5 hectares of
land.
Once
operational, the project will need 17,000 tons/year of polyethylene, 28,000 t/y
tons of polypropylene, 3,000 t/y of masterbatch and 2,500 t/y of additives as
feedstock.
Ethylene
compound, propylene compound and masterbatch will be the main products of the
plant.
"The
industry is growing, and has diversified projects, and we can move more rapidly
with the use of new technologies in the industry," Mohammadi said.
The official
further said that the annual growth of crude oil in the world is one percent, while
this figure is up to 9 percent in
the petrochemical industry, adding: “The volume of the petrochemical industry's
trade in the world is worth $3,800 billion annually, Iran can move more rapidly
in the industry given its massive oil and gas reserves.”
Mohammadi
emphasized: "The four elements of feedstock, knowledge and technology,
capital and the market are one of the most important factors for building a
project.”
55 petrochemical
plants are operating in Mahshahr, Assaluyeh and other areas of the country with
a capacity of 65 million tons per year, of which 31 million tons of products
are sold, and about 22 million tons are exported to different destinations in
the world.