West ethylene pipeline, a standard project

Director of West Ethylene Pipeline (WEP) project Masoud Meysami said the vital pipeline has been constructed on the basis of the highest international standards. “The WEP has been constructed by benefiting from the state-of-the-art technology and from technical and safety view, it is up to the highest international standards,” Meysami told Shana. He said that security boxes have been installed 25 kilometers from one another. There are safety valves in the boxes. “After every 200 kilometers, an intelligent PIG station is installed to regularly monitor the pipeline. In the meantime, an electronic leak detector is operating,” he added. He said three control rooms located in Assaluyeh, Gachsaran and Sanandaj are monitoring the pipeline activity. “Assaluyeh station is operating now and the other two stations will start work soon,” he said. “Independent telecom posts and telephone line have been envisaged for every 25 kilometers and there is also a fiber optic line,” he added. Meysami said recently that the pipeline project will come on-stream in the autumn as the second phase is under construction. The section of the pipeline stretching from Kermanshah to Sanandaj in western Iran is fully ready and its hydrostatic tests have been conducted. The sections connecting Sanandaj to Saqez and Saqez to Miandoab as well as the Miandoab-Mahabad sections are close to being completed. The pipeline is forecasted to come online by November to carry feedstock to petrochemical plants for higher output. The pipeline is designed to carry 150,000 tons of ethylene to Tabriz Petrochemical Plant. Lorestan, Mahabad and Kurdestan petrochemical plants are also to be fed by West Ethylene Pipeline. The construction of the pipeline was first adopted in 2002 when Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was serving as petroleum minister. The entire pipeline stretches from Assaluyeh in southern Iran to West Azarbaijan Province in northwestern Iran. Kavian Petrochemical Plant will convert ethane received from South Pars to ethylene to be injected into West Ethylene Pipeline. Eleven provinces and 14 petrochemical plants are located on the route of the pipeline. The 14 petrochemical plants are either operational or under construction with an investment of 8.5 billion dollars. The eleven provinces include Fars, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Kohguiluyeh Boyer Ahmad, Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari, Kurdstan, Kermanshah, Ilam, Hamedan, East Azarbaijan and West Azarbaijan. The pipeline is known to be the longest ethylene transfer pipeline in the world.