Italy's Tecnimont has been awarded contracts for two petrochemical plants to produce ethylene glycol and polypropylene. The contracts, awarded by the Marun Petrochemical Company in mid-September, are together worth about $200 million, Tecnimont says.

The two plants are to be sited in the Bandar Khomeini special zone, near the main Bandar Khomeini petrochemicals complex, in the northern gulf. The ethylene glycol plant, with technology from Shell International Chemicals, is to have a capacity of 400,000 tonnes a year (t/y); the polypropylene plant, using Montel technology, will have a capacity of 300,000 t/y.

Feedstock for the facilities will come from the Marun complex cracker, says the National Petrochemical Company (NPC).

Both plants are to be completed by 2003.

Tecnimont will be working with the local Petrochemical Industries Design & Engineering Company (PIDEC), an NPC subsidiary, and the private Nargan Consulting Engineers.

PIDEC will provide detailed engineering and locally manufactured equipment, NPC says.

Tecnimont is involved in several petrochemical projects in the country. Its French subsidiary, Sofregaz, received a $100 million contract in early 2000 to build two compressor stations, S3 and S6, on the IGAT-3 gas trunkline (MEED 28:1:00). Sofregaz is also carrying out an underground gas storage study (MEED 10:12:99).