Going Beyond Licensing

Representing Basell in Iran and at the Third IPF was Werner Breuers. Speaking for one of the world’s biggest polyolefin producers and technology suppliers, Breuers told us his ideas about IPF, investment and cooperation.

Starting from Arak: Our company is very interested in the huge petrochemical programs of Iran where we have an excellent relationship from the past. It started with Arak where we had our first license just after the war, and the plant is running very well. We are very pleased that we can continue this tradition in the country with the new petrochemical programs NPC has formed.

Establishing Direct Contact: I must say this is an excellent opportunity to meet all the representatives of Iran, NPC and Iranian engineering companies, to have direct contact with them, and to have an exchange of different projects in Iran. You can also have discussions about the problems and issues which sometimes occur, and solve them directly. It is very useful.

A Positive Evaluation: Coming down to an evaluation of the status of foreign investment in the Iranian industries, specifically the petrochemical industry, I think the situation is progressing. If you look to the huge programs and the enormous potential in feedstock available in Iran, it should be very interesting for foreign companies to participate in these programs and to participate in the growing petrochemical industry in this country.

Expectations Met: I expect to get an overview of the status of the projects, having these personal relationships during the forum, having discussions with the people in charge on how we can progress. The first couple of hours of the conference showed that NPC is on the right track.
The names of the foreign participants indicates that there is a very high-level foreign participation, high-level Iranian participation, very good speeches, and also the opportunity to interact with the people here unofficially in the breaks.

NPC as a Partner: I must say NPC for me is a very reliable partner. All the things we discussed have always been realized up to now. We have not had financial problems. So, all in all it is an excellent partnership. That is the reason why we are now going beyond just licensing and joint ventures in Iran. We are actually discussing also the licensing of pilot plants and R&D cooperation. This means we are going a step ahead of our former discussions and stepping into a deeper relationship with NPC and its affiliates.