TEHRAN (PIN) – The heavy polyethylene project of Ilam Petrochemical Complex has made a 99.7 percent progress and will come on stream by Dec. 21. 2008.

According to Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC), the progress of basic engineering of the utility and offsite unit of the project has now reached 87.37 percent.
The construction of non-industrial structures of the complex has also made a 78.6 percent progress and the complex is expected to become operational in 2009.
To make up for underdevelopment of provinces and to stimulate production in less developed areas of the country, the government decided in Nov. 2002 to take ethylene gas from Assaluyeh, southern Bushehr Province, to southern and western provinces including Fars, Khuzestan, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Lorestan, Kermanshah, Hamedan, and Kurdestan provinces.
The West Ethylene Pipeline starts in Assaluyeh and crosses Fars, Khuzestan, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Lorestan, Kermanshah, Hamedan, and Kurdestan provinces to reach Mahabad city in West Azarbaijan Province.
The plan is to be carried out by the Petroleum Ministry in collaboration with the private sector.
After preliminary studies and to achieve national and economic goals of the plan, the Petroleum Ministry established Bakhtar Petrochemical Complex (Private Joint Stock).
About 30 percent of the company’s stocks belongs to the National Petrochemical Company, 30 percent to Oil Pension Fund, 10 percent to Arak Petrochemical Complex, 5 percent to Isfahan Petrochemical Complex, 5 percent to Investment Company of Bank Melli Iran, 5 percent to Investment Company of Social Security Organization, 5 percent to Petrochemical Industries Investment Company, 5 percent to Modabber Investment Company, 2.5 percent to Iran Industrial Development Investment Company, and 2.5 percent to Rena Investment Company.
Kavian Petrochemical Company, as the biggest producer of olefin in Iran with annual production capacity of two million tons of ethylene as well as Gachsaran Petrochemical Company, which would produce one million tons of ethylene per year will provide feedstock for other petrochemical complexes that are to be built in western Iran.