National Iranian Petrochemical Company

Iran petrochemical industry dates back to 1963. The first petrochemical complex to produce fertilizer kicked off then. It was founded by Bagher Mostofi باقر مستوفی under instructions of Shah.

Prior to the Iranian revolution, the first major petrochemical operation in Iran was the Shiraz Petrochemical Complex which by 1979 would have had facilities that would have increased annual production capacity of urea by 500,000 tons, nitric acid by 200,000 tons and ammonia nitrate by 250,000 tons, while the largest petrochemical plant in Iran prior to the revolution was the Abadan Petrochemical Plant which by 1976 produced in excess of 100,000 tons of PVC, 12,000 tons of dodecylbenzene and 24,000 tons of sodium hydroxide. Iran had surpassed a production of 5 million tons of hydrocarbon energy, worth billions to the Iranian economy and employing tens of thousands of domestic and foreign workers. The Iranian government in 1977 estimated that by 1985 Iran would supply 10% of the entire world's petrochemical production.

Other large ventures planned prior to the revolution included a second trans Iranian-Soviet pipeline for natural gas named Igat-2 valued at 2 billion, an addition of a methanol production facility at the Kharg Petrochemical Company (a joint venture with Amoco) known for producing over 250,000 tons of sulfur a year and the Iran Carbon Company (a joint venture with the Cabot Corporation) the largest black carbon and rubber producer in the Middle East.

The largest petrochemical and fertilizer plant in the world, a joint venture between the government of Iran and Japanese conglomerate Mitsui was to be constructed in the city of Bandar e-Shahpur, alongside the Persian Gulf. By 1979 the complex was half completed and was slated at a cost of US$3.2 billion (1979 dollars). The plant manager was to be M. Arvin who formerly managed the Shiraz and Abadan plants.

Due to getting involved in Iran–Iraq War, Iran oil industry development experienced the lowest growth rate from 1979 till 1989. In 1989 the country petrochemical products reached 2.4 million tons a year.

Since 1989 till 1999 petrochemical industry started to reconstruct. Isfahan, Arak, Khorasan, Orumiyeh and Tabriz Petrochemical complexes were constructed and Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex was also developed.

The fourth period (2006–2011) – called stabilizing and sudden growth period – started in 1999 and has been continued till now. The number of petrochemical facilities rose to 39 in the post-Islamic Revolution era from only 6 in 1978, raising the output to 15.8 million tons in 2005 and more than 40 million tons in 2010.

In 2016, Iran's petrochemical industry experienced at least 15 accidents, possibly linked to cyber-attacks.

Main products

Iran has a diversified petroleum product basket with more than 70 products. The main exports are polyethylene, methanol, benzene, ammonia, sulphur, PVC and propylene. Iran exported $8.613 billion worth of different types of petrochemical products in Iranian year 2010-2011.

Methanol: Iran is a key player in supplying the world's methanol demand. Currently, Iran has the capacity to produce more than 5 million tonnes of methanol, which constitutes 10% of the world's methanol production. Of this amount, approximately 90% is exported.

Ethane: In addition, Iran has a competitive advantage in the gas consuming stream of the petrochemical industry due to its vast reserves of natural gas. In the Assalouyeh region near the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, Iran is able to convert raw gas to ethane (a raw material for the petrochemical industry) and then to petrochemical products at a gross margin of up to 88%. In 2009, Iran consumed domestically over 95% of the natural gas that was produced.

Research and development

There are essentially four locations where R&D in the area of petrochemicals are