Iran launching $1.43bn petrochemical plant in Gachsaran
Iran is launching a major petrochemical plant that relies on home-grown equipment for more than 80% of its needs, according to a senior official in the state-controlled Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC).
Hassan Neshanzadeh, who leads planning and business operations at the PGPIC, said on Monday that Gachsaran Petrochemicals in southern Iran will soon be inaugurated in a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Raeisi.
Neshanzadeh said the project will increase Iran’s ethylene production by 1 million metric tons (mt) per year.
He said the project has cost 1.3 billion euros ($1.43 billion) to build, adding that a bulk of the equipment used in the plant have been sourced from Iranian suppliers.
“Gachsaran is the first polyolefin unit (in Iran) with home-made furnace burners,” said the official.
Gachsaran Petrochemicals will rely on 1.25 million mt per day of ethane gas as its feedstock. The gas will be supplied to the plant through a 90-kilometer pipeline from Bidboland Gas Refinery, located in the nearby Khuzestan region.
Iran’s Energy Ministry has guaranteed to supply 12 million cubic meters per year of water and 50 megawatts of electricity to the plant.
The launch of the plant will create 1,000 direct jobs in the relatively impoverished regions in southern Iran while another 3,000 jobs will be created on the supply chain of the industry.
The PGPIC accelerated construction works for Gachsaran Petrochemicals in 2019, some 15 years after it started the project.
The planned launch comes despite the fact that Iran’s petroleum sector has been subject to a series of American sanctions since 2018.
Some experts believe US sanctions on Iran have backfired as they have forced the country to rely more on domestic resources to expand its massive oil and gas sector.
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