Iran, Italy sign €34m petchem industry deal
Italy’s Techint Engineering & Construction and Ardabil Petrochemical Company signed a €34-million contract on Monday night for processing natural gas into polypropylene.
As per the deal, the Italian company will appoint a licensor for the construction of a 500,000-ton unit within 18 months and will be duty-bound to submit the ¿nal estimate of the costs involved in the implementation of the main project to build a gas to propylene (GTPP) plant.
Some €1.6 billion will be invested in the megaproject, said the head of the Board of Directors of Ardabil Petrochemical Company, Bahram Shahsavari, commenting on the plan.
He added once completed, the project will create 1,500 and 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in the province, respectively.
Shahsavari said talks with the Italian ¿rm on the signing of the contract began in September 2017.
He added indigenization of modern engineering science and technology as well as training human workforce under the supervision of top international engineers will be among the bene¿ts of the contract for his province.
Speaking at the signing ceremony of the contract, Giorgio Veronesi, the proposal director at Techint Engineering & Construction, said his company has a long-term plan for being present in Iran’s petrochemical industry. He said his company’s strategy is based on using native workforce in any country it is carrying out a project, adding as per the request of the Iranian company, this strategy will be used in Iran as well.
Veronesi noted that having considerable expertise and knowledge in project engineering, his company is willing to cooperate with all active Iranian engineering ¿rms.
“[At present,] The condition for participation in Iranian energy industry projects have changed compared to the period prior to the lifting of Western sanctions. We seek to become compatible with the new situation in the country and provide Iranian companies with all the services required by the industry.”