President opens projects in Khuzestan

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurates the Persian Gulf freeway in Khuzestan province linking the city of Ahvaz to the Imam Khomeini port. The 90-kilometer freeway shortens the time required for traveling from the southern city of Ahvaz to the Imam Khomeini port to 45 minutes from the previous 120 minutes.

The Persian Gulf freeway, which cost $1,200 million, will pay for itself over the course of the next three decades with duties paid by drivers.

President Ahmadinejad also opened the second phase of Shahid Tondgouyan petrochemical project in Mahshahr port city. This phase alone has cost $1,400 million. In addition, the president launched the light polyethylene unit of Laleh Petrochemical Complex in Mahshahr.

In the near future, he will inaugurate three petrochemical projects at the Imam Khomeini port and 48 telecommunications projects valued at $310 million. Ministers of oil, communications and Transportation are accompanying the president in his visit to Mahshahr and Imam Khomeini port cities in southern Iran.

[ SOURCE: PRESS TV (http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=46141&sectionid=351020102) | 03.07.2008 ]

Three petrochemical projects inaugurated in southern Iran
TEHRAN TIMES (http://www.tehrantimes.com/Index_view.asp?code=164637) | March 09, 2008

TEHRAN – Three huge petrochemical projects at Razi, Laleh, and Shahid Tondguyan petrochemical complexes in Mahshahr, southern Iran, came on stream on Thursday in a ceremony attended by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The third ammonia producing unit of Razi Petrochemical Complex, in which 142 million euros and 540 billion rials (57.7 million dollars) have been invested, will produce 680,000 tons of ammonia annually.

The project is under the license of a Swiss company and Iran’s Petrochemical Designing and Engineering Company does logistical affairs. Executive operations of the project began in 2002 in an area of six hectares in Mahshahr. The low-density polyethylene (LDPE) producing unit of Laleh Petrochemical Complex, in which 240 million dollars and 250 billion rials (26.7 million dollars) have been invested, will produce 300,000 tons of LDPE yearly.

The second pure terephthalic acid / polyethylene terephthalate (PET/PTA) producing unit at Tondguyan Petrochemical Company has the capacity of producing 750,000 tons of polyethylene terephthalate annually, the executive operations of which started in 2000 in an area of 18 hectares.

The National Petrochemical Company (NPC) boosted its output to 23 million tons in 2007 from 15 million tons in 2004, its managing director said. Gholamhossein Nejabat added five million tons of products worth 2.4 billion dollars have been added to the NPC’s production capacity since 2006.

Iran's current petrochemical output is worth 8.5 billion dollars, he said, adding out of the figure $5.5 billion is for exports, while the remaining $3 billion is for domestic sale. East and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, India, China, and Europe are the major foreign markets for Iran's petrochemical products, he added.

Iran wants to raise its share of petrochemical output in the Middle East to 32% and in the world market to 6.1% in accordance with the 20-Year Outlook Plan, Nejabat said, adding that Iran needs to increase its current output capacity by 300 percent in 17 years to achieve this goal, Press TV reported. The NPC is a subsidiary of Iran's Petroleum Ministry. It is responsible for operation and development of the country's petrochemical sector.