Iranian deputy oil minister says Turkey will cooperate with Iran in constructing two petrochemical plants in southern and western Iran, Press TV reported.
"Recently, talks with Turkish companies have been accelerated for launching joint petrochemical units. We have negotiated with Turkey for building a urea and an ammonia unit in the second site of Pars Special Economic Energy Zone (Assalouyeh) and also for constructing Miyandoab's petrochemical unit," Abdolhossein Bayat told Mehr News Agency.
Bayat, who is also the managing director of National Iranian Petrochemical Company (NIPC), explained, "Miyandob's PVC petrochemical unit, when completed, will produce 539,000 tons of petrochemical products per annum."
"It is expected that a portion of the feed for this unit be procured from the western ethylene pipeline and the needed salt will be procured from Orumieh Lake," he added.
He recalled that previously, negotiations were conducted between the National Iranian Petrochemical Company and a Turkish company for constructing a methanol unit in Assalouyeh with an annual output of 1.650 million tons.
"This is while negotiations have also been held with Turkish firms for building a polyethylene unit in Mahabad, West Azarbaijan province, with a yearly production capacity of 300,000 tons, however, no contracts have been signed yet," he noted.
Bayat emphasized that there are still no plans for extending the western ethylene pipeline to Turkey.
The first phase of the 1,800-kilometer pipeline, which stretches from Assalouyeh to Kermanshah, will become operational in three months.
There are 11 petrochemical complexes on the way of this pipeline whose feed are supplied by Kaviyan Petrochemical Unit (Olefin 11) with a capacity of 2.180 million tons of ethylene and Morvarid Petrochemical Unit with an output of 1.05 million tons of ethylene.
Bayat also noted that Iran has held negotiations with companies from Oman, Indonesia, Malaysia, Venezuela, Russia and South Africa for building and developing petrochemical units.
Earlier this month, Iran proposed to international bodies to create a global forum for exporters of petrochemical products.
"The formation of the Petrochemical Exporting Countries Forum (PECF) will bring a new order to the market of petrochemical products and create coordination among exporters," Bayat said.
Today, NIPC is the second largest producer and exporter of petrochemicals in the Middle East. Over these years, it has not only expanded the range and volume of its products, but it has also taken steps in areas such as R&D to achieve further self-sufficiency.
Iran hopes to implement 47 petrochemical projects by the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan in 2015, adding a total of 43 million tons per year to its capacity. Iran will represent at least 5.3 percent of global petrochemical output and 36 percent of Middle Eastern production once those projects come online.