IRAN - Arak Complex.

This is NPC's second biggest complex, on stream since end-1993, having involved 27 foreign contractors and 350 Iranian companies. It is also the site of a major oil refinery. Operated by Arak Petrochemicals Co., the first phase cost $1.94 bn in foreign currency and IR440 bn. Plant capacities break down as follows (in '000 t/y):

Ethylene                    240
High-density polyethylene    60
Low-density polyethylene     60
Propylene & polypropylene    50
Vinyl acetate                30
Polybutadiene                25
Pyrolysis gasoline          102
Butene-1                      2
Polyvinyl chloride          150
Acetic acid                   8
Caustic soda                118

The main hard currency awards for the complex, involving its first phase, were as follows: a $50m management contract won in October 1988 by Snamprogetti; a $93m contract for engineering, equipment supply and field services to Technipetrol for the ethylene cracker and another worth $60m for the LDPE unit; a $134m contract for engineering, materials supply and supervision of the HDPE unit to Uhde (using the Hoechst process); a $60m contract for the engineering and supply of equipment for the polypropylene unit to Tecnimont; a $6m contract for the supply of heat exchangers to Nuovo Pignone; a $60m contract for the gas turbine power plant to Alsthom; a utilities contract to Daelim; a $135m contract in May 1989 to the Italian company Fochi-Sicom to build part of the plant; a $36m contract four months later to Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Marubeni for the supply of five heat-recovery steam generators for gas turbine exhausts and two gas-fired boilers; and a contract for oxygen and nitrogen units with capacities of 450 t/d each to Air Liquide in March 1990. The second phase started up in December 1995, originally set for completion in 1993-94. The second phase consists of plants for: 110,000 t/y of ethylene glycol; 10,000 t/y of ethylene oxide; 150,000 t/y of di-ethyl hexanol; 5,700 t/y of iso-butanol; 5,000 t/y of normal butanol; and 30,000 t/y of ethanol amine. Ethylene oxide is used to produce ethylene glycol and ethanol amine. The di- ethyl hexanol unit uses propylene feedstock. The first contract for Phase II was awarded in November 1990 to a consortium of Tecnimont and Salzgitter, which won a $270m turnkey job to build the ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol units. Salzgitter provided engineering services. Process technology was licenced from Scientific Design of the US. In February 1991 a $290m turnkey contract was awarded to Speichim (of Spie- Batignolles) for the di-ethyl hexanol unit using a Davy McKee process, and a unit to produce normal and iso-butanols used in the manufacture of PVC.