TEHRAN (PIN) – Zagros Petrochemical Complex exported 138 thousand tons of methanol since the current Iranian calendar month of Mehr (Sept. 23 to Oct. 21).

According to its managing director, the complex has produced over 630 thousand tons of methanol since it started work – last March.
“Of the figure, 550 thousand tons has been exported to Southeast Asian and European states and 80 thousand tons was stockpiled in the complex’s warehouses,” Mehdi Hamidi added.
The official said the product’s world price had risen as each ton of methanol was valued at 450 to 500 dollars in the international world market.
Hamidi said the methanol unit of the complex was now working at 97 percent of its capacity, vowing it would work at full capacity in the near future.
He added more than 420 thousand tons of methanol had been exported in the first half of current Iranian calendar year (started March 21, 2007).
In addition to its exports, the complex had supplied domestic downstream companies with methanol, the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) quoted the official as saying.
The second unit of the complex has been pre-commissioned at Pars Special Economic Energy Zone.
The unit will be ready to receive feed for production of methanol as of March 2008. When the second unit becomes operational, it will produce 1.65 million tons of pure methanol per annum and the capacity of Zagros Petrochemical Complex will increase twofold, hitting 3.3 million tons per year.
Petrochemical exports in the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2007 to March 19, 2008) will soar to 21 million tons in terms of weight, fetching the country 91 trillion rials (9.8 billion dollars).
According to the forecast, the sector also earns about 37 trillion rials (some 4 billion dollars) within the period by injecting petrochemical products into domestic market.