Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs Amir Hossein Zamaninia recounted on his talks with directors of Linde Group on the sidelines of the 13th International Iran Petrochemical Forum (IPF 2017) saying “the German firm is eager to join hands with Iran in several petrochemical projects.”
“Venues for financing Iranian petrochemical projects are being investigated together with Linde,” noted the official asserting “despite the caution being exercised by European banks for presence in Iran, Germans believe that solutions are abundant to financing of projects.”
He said Linde directors had also met with Iran’s Oil Minister Zanganeh on the sidelines of the Forum and voiced readiness to make presence in the Iran LNG project.
Zamaninia, while voicing satisfaction towards the talks with the German company, underlined that Linde Group could make investments in Iran through its own resources.
Linde representatives also expressed willingness to transfer technical knowledge to Iran announcing that final agreements with Iranian petrochemical firms will be soon reached.
In a related story, Iran's Petrochemical Research and Technology Company (PRTC) inked an Agreement in Principle (AiP) with Norner AS of Norway to develop technology of polypropylene and its catalyst.
The AiP was singed between PRTC Managing Director Esmaeil Ghanbari and Lars H. Evensen, Norner Director for Business Development.
Ghanbari highlighted the importance of propylene for the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) as regards promotion of downstream industries in the coming ten years; “as such, NPC has put on the agenda strategic partnership with the Norwegian firm.”
PRTC head recalled that a polypropylene pilot plant had been launched in Arak last year by relying on domestic capabilities and with an annual capacity of 2,400 tons adding “for the first time ever, polypropylene catalyst was successfully tested using indigenous technical knowledge.”
He said the country had a nominal capacity of about 965 thousand tons for production of polypropylene almost five years ago though a four-million-ton rise in the Sixth National Development Plan and an eight-million-ton increase in the seventh one further reveals the need to gain domestic technical knowledge for producing the strategic product.
He said the AiP with Norway’s Norner had a 10-year term and was implemented immediately after being signed on Sunday.
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