July 2009, Nos. 52&53

Achievement

Bahman Reza Pourjafar, PIDEC Managing Director

Since its inception in November 1989 the Petrochemical Industries Design and Engineering Company has turned into a big technical and engineering hub for implementation of major oil, gas, and petrochemical projects in Iran. PIDEC has now a capacity of 2.5 million person-hours in technical and engineering fields and is capable of implementing domestic oil projects. It also takes part in international oil, gas and petrochemical tender bids and can allocate part of its capacity to implementing overseas projects.

Benefiting from needed infrastructures, facilities, advanced hardware and software equipment, especially engineering structures, PIDEC is capable of managing and implementing projects related to oil, gas and petrochemical industries at the hands of its specialized manpower.

PIDEC Managing Director Bahman Reza Pourjafar says the company has implemented many projects in Iran. “We can take active part in implementing industrial projects and building refinery and petrochemical plants both inside the country and in neighboring states either through partnership with creditable foreign licensor and contractor companies, or independently.”

He added that PIDEC offers license and technology for industrial projects such as construction of ammonia and urea (chemical fertilizer) plants and methanol, in particular, as well as other petrochemical and oil refining plants (CCR, FCCU), in general.

Basic engineering services for projects are provided either independently or in cooperation with licensor companies and other foreign partners. PIDEC also takes charge of managing projects and providing detailed engineering services. Other services provided by PIDEC according to its MD include offering engineering services, purchase and procurement of needed machinery and equipment for oil, gas, and petrochemical industries from creditable domestic manufacturers and foreign manufacturers, choosing contractor(s), and implementing installation or construction operations in cooperation with local and regional contractors which can implement industrial projects, as well as supervision over installation and construction operations until commissioning.

Consultant engineering companies and those involved in design, engineering, construction, and installation of petrochemical industries play a great role in national economy. They use their potentials and boost quality and quantity of their work to combine domestic and foreign capacities and endeavor to turn threats into opportunities by understanding conditions and changing engineering and executive framework of projects. They also try to bring about a technological change in Iran and create a logical balance between Iranian and foreign companies involved in implementing projects.

A cursory glance at projects implemented by PIDEC would show that the company is capable of undertaking basic engineering for projects and can provide detailed engineering services until all machinery and equipment are purchased. Then it can supervise construction and commission of huge industrial projects and provide the needed technical supports.

According to Pourjafar PIDEC uses foreign licensor companies as its partners or subcontractors to provide detailed engineering services and has signed exclusive license agreements with creditable foreign companies. In addition, he explains, by banking on its own experiences in basic engineering of petrochemical and oil complexes, the company is capable of implementing basic engineering operations for those plants which do not need a license and can even implement basic engineering for licensed plants by scaling up its research and development structure.

Projects like Bandar Imam’s MTBE, aromatic plant of Bou Ali Sina Petrochemical Complex, the plan to boost capacity of Abadan refinery (first phase) as well as the third ammonia plant of Razi Petrochemical Complex were implemented independently by PIDEC and have started production since a long time ago, Pourjafar noted.

After licensor companies refrained from fulfilling their obligations in MTBE projects and did not cooperate with the National Petrochemical Company due to US sanctions, PIDEC was asked to undertake the project. In the early years where projects were implemented as EP or EPC, PIDEC signed a contract with the National Petrochemical Company for implementation of basic and detailed engineering operations and purchasing machinery and equipment for MTBE project through an EP contract and even took charge of its finance.

Despite certain restrictions, Pourjafar says the project was implemented on time and the plant is currently supplying needed MTBE to domestic industries. As for aromatic plant of Bou Ali Sina Petrochemical Complex, he said, PIDEC took charge of all detailed engineering operations such as purchasing machinery and equipment through an EP contract without assistance from a foreign partner. After installation and construction operations were carried out successfully, the plant is currently producing aromatics.

Another project implemented by PIDEC was increasing the capacity of Abadan refinery (phase 1) which included construction of a vacuum distillation plant and a gravity reduction unit.

The third ammonia project of Razi Petrochemical Complex was carried out as EP and independently by PIDEC, which used technical know-how provided by a Swiss company.