Document number 1: expansion of petrochemical industry

Establishment of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC)

The first laboratory petrochemical material in the world was produced in 1918 and led to the birth of petrochemical industry as one of the emerging industries in the 20th century.

Two years later in 1920, polymerization (i.e. the process of producing large molecules out of single molecules) was invented and the technology of transforming gaseous and oil liquids into products began to grow.

Subsequently, petrochemical industry expanded across the globe remarkably so that in 1951 more than ninety petrochemical plants were operational only in the United States.

In Iran, the first petrochemical corporation came online in 1964 when construction of a fertilizer unit, now part of Shiraz petrochemical complex, was completed. The construction of this unit began in 1958 and it came online in 1964.  A year later, in 1965, the fertilizer unit expanded in the form of an organization which was the basis of the establishment of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) as it is known today.

This document explains the first initiatives were taken for changing the fertilizer unit into the National Petrochemical Company (NPC).

The document also recommends that the newly established company should make its maximum efforts to deploy Iranian educated forces.  

The original document is being kept at the Oil Industry Documents Archive Center

Mohmmad Hasan Tadrisi

Oil Industry Documents Center