Polyolefin and olefin production in Iran: Current and future capacities

Due to easy availability of cheaper raw material and increase in new applications, the use of polyolefins in various industries is becoming a major priority. The Middle East region, on account of its vast oil and gas reserves has, in the last decade or so, been developing many new petrochemical complexes with their expansion into colossal polyolefin production capacities. The predictions are that by 2020 the Middle East region will dominate the polyolefin industry as a whole. Furthermore, with proven oil reserves of about 21.7 thousand million tons (4th world ranking) and natural gas of 34.0 trillion cubic meters (1st world ranking), Iran’s petrochemical industry is supported by diverse and abundant feedstock reserves. In line with other polyolefin producers’ developments in the Middle East, Iran's National Petrochemical Company (NPC) has undergone massive structural and technological transformations in the last two decades in order to set up ambitious plans for further capacity increase and native technology developments. This article mainly focuses on Iran today’s position and its future plans in the polyolefins industry.