IRAN - Abadan Plant.

This was built in the 1970s, after the creation of the Razi Chemical Co. in the late 1960s. It was a JV between NPC and B.F. Goodrich of the US called the Abadan Petrochemical Co., in which NPC had 74% and Goodrich 26%. The plant is near the Abadan oil refinery, brought on stream in 1971. Initially, it had a capacity of 70,000 t/y of PVC, DDB and caustic soda. In 1975 another 60,000 t/y PVC unit came on stream but its annual output never exceeded 43,000 tons. The venture was nationalised in 1979 and, as in the case of other JVs, NPC took full control. The plant was destroyed in the 1980-88 war with Iraq but was rebuilt in three stages, with work started in late 1989. The first units came back on stream in October 1990 with a capacity of 15,000 t/y of PVC and 10,000 t/y of chloro- acetic acid. The second and third phases raised the capacity to 60,000 t/y of PVC by December 1991 and 30,000 t/y of caustic soda and 10,000 t/y of DDB by end-1992.