MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iran is in talks with France’s Air Liquide to develop a 0.5mt Propylene via Methanol (PVM) plant, said Iran-bn.
Esmaeil Qambari (pictured), managing director of the Petrochemical Research and Technology Company, told reporters on Monday that the company is in talks with companies from Germany, France, Norway and Japan to purchase petrochemical technologies from them.
"In the latest development, we have held talks with Air Liquide for scientific partnership for development of a 500,000-ton Propylene via Methanol (PVM) plant," he said.
Ghambari said his company has developed a new model for its cooperation with foreign firms, saying, "Purchasing foreign technologies will take place only [if] foreign technologies are transferred to and localized in Iran."
He said the new model will reduce sale of crude oil, generate jobs, link upstream sector to downstream and petrochemical sectors and generate valued added in the industry.
He further said the company launched the first PVM pilot plant in Mahshahr during the first half of the current year and has gained permission to build an industrial unit with the capacity of 120,000 tons in the region.
As MRC reported earlier, NPC plans to increase its investments in the country's petrochemical projects in order to accelerate their progress, wrote in October 2014 Fars News Agency, quoting NPC Deputy Head Mohammad Hassan Peyvandi. The company is legally permitted to have a 20% share in petrochemical investments, but this can increase to 49% in under developed regions.
NPC is prioritizing funding for projects that are at least 60% complete, he said. These include the Takht-Jamshid SBR & PBR unit, the second phases of the Kavian and Karoun petrochemical plants, the West Ethylene Pipeline and petrochemical projects in the provinces of Lorestan, Kurdistan, Illam, Mahabad and Hamedan.
MRC