October 21, 2005 - Lorestan Petrochemical Company and Mahabad Petrochemical Company, affiliates of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC), have both selected Basell’s Spherilene technology for the new LLD/HDPE swing plants they intend to build in Iran.  The Lorestan Petrochemical plant will be built in Khoramabad in Lorestan province, while the Mahabad Petrochemical plant will be built in Mahabad in West Azerbaijan province of Iran.  Each plant will have an annual capacity of 300 KT with start-up planned for 2008.

Tecnimont of Italy was selected as the EP contractor for the new plants, together with NARGAN of Iran.

The new plants will be part of NPC’s 11th Olefin project.   Ethylene feedstock will be supplied from an ethane gas cracker located at Al Assaluyeh.  A 1500 kilometre pipeline will connect the cracker with five petrochemical sites located in the western provinces of Iran.

In addition to the two new Spherilene plants, the 11th Olefin project includes a 300 KT per year HDPE Hostalen plant and a 300 KT per year LDPE Lupotech T plant, both licensed by Basell.

“Basell has granted NPC and its affiliates a total of 15 licenses in Iran, which represent a combined annual capacity of nearly 4 million tones,” said Just Jansz, president of Basell’s Technology Business who participated in a signing ceremony in Tehran.  “NPC is one of the most important petrochemical companies in the region and the world.  We are pleased to be their leading supplier of polyolefin technologies.” 

In addition to Spherilene, other Basell licenses in Iran include Lupotech G, Hostalen and Lupotech T polyethylene technologies; and Spheripol, the world’s most widely used polypropylene technology.

Basell’s complete portfolio of licensed technologies is comprised of:

• Spheripol – polypropylene technology for the production of homopolymer, random and heterophasic copolymers.
• Spherizone – latest generation polypropylene technology based on new multi-zone reactor technology.
• Spherilene – swing gas phase process for the production of LLDPE, MDPE and HDPE.
• Hostalen - low-pressure slurry process for the production of bi-modal HDPE.
• Lupotech G – fluidised bed gas phase process for the production of HDPE and MDPE. 
• Lupotech T – high pressure tubular reactor process for the production of LDPE and EVA copolymers.

Basell also produces and commercialises advanced catalyst systems which are sold under the Avant trade name.

Basell is the world's largest producer of polypropylene and advanced polyolefin products, a leading supplier of polyethylene and catalysts, and a global leader in the development and licensing of polypropylene and polyethylene processes. Basell, together with its joint ventures, has manufacturing facilities around the world and sells products in more than 120 countries. Additional information about Basell is available at www.basell.com.

For more information contact Chantal Sohm, Basell Corporate Communications, at
+33 1 55 512 119, +33 672 683 093 or chantal.sohm@basell.com