The Petrochemical Industries Design and Engineering Company (PIDEC) (Private Joint Stock) was established by board of directors of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) in November 1989 to achieve technical and industrial self-sufficiency and transfer technology through design and engineering operations in the field of major industrial projects, especially related to oil, gas and petrochemical industries, implementing procurement operations for industrial plans, supervising executive and construction phases of major projects and undertaking other missions directly or indirectly related to achievement of its goals, either individually or in cooperation with other domestic and foreign companies. All stocks of the company were then purchased by the Petrochemical Industries Construction and Installation Company.

Since its inception, the Petrochemical Industries Design and Engineering Company has been progressing and through investment in training engineering and expert manpower, it has turned into a big technical and engineering hub in the country for the implementation of major oil, gas, and petrochemical projects. The Petrochemical Industries Design and Engineering Company has now a capacity of 2.5 million person-hours in technical and engineering fields and is able to implement domestic oil projects and also take part in oil, gas and petrochemical tender bids outside the country. Therefore, it can allocate part of its capacity to implementing overseas projects.

Since its establishment (about 20 years ago) the company has provided valuable services to oil, gas, and petrochemical projects and in addition to training engineers and promoting technical knowledge of its personnel, the company has tried to pave the way for technology transfer and break new grounds in scientific and technical fields in parallel to creditable international companies. The company has played a great role in helping the country to achieve self-sufficiency and economic independence. It has not only taken the place of foreign companies, but is also capable of implementing all kinds of oil, gas and petrochemical projects. Therefore, by undertaking basic and detailed engineering operations and engineering services as well as procurement of machines and equipment, installation, construction, pre-commissioning, commissioning, and funding projects, the company has paved the way for enforcement of the law which mandates maximum use of domestic capabilities and manpower.

Undoubtedly, 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.

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, 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.

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 NPC 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 some limitations, 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, 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 in cooperation with ECC was increasing the capacity of Abadan refinery (phase 1) which included construction of a vacuum distillation plant and a gravity reduction unit. Engineering, construction, and installation operations have been carried out a long time ago and the said units have been already commissioned.

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. PIDEC was the main contractor for basic engineering, detailed engineering, engineering services, purchase and procurement of machinery and equipment as well as supervision over installation and construction operations.

All the above projects were implemented independently by PIDEC at competitive prices which were much lower than those quoted by foreign counterparts. Prices offered by PIDEC were consistently 60-70 percent of those quoted by foreign companies. By using 3-D engineering design systems, PIDEC has finished projects with the lowest profits and has been honored to implement new grassroots projects through EP or EPC contracts at the lowest price while providing the highest quality machinery and equipment.

When it comes to standalone projects, PIDEC has a good track record with regard to various types of processes, machinery and equipment which are being commissioned or undergoing design and detailed engineering under a wide range of pressures and temperatures. Salient points include:

The biggest distillation tower with a height of 123 m and a diameter of more than 7 m. It weighs 1,500 tons and is made of iron plates 90 mm thick. The tower is being commissioned at the third aromatic plant of Bou Ali Sina Petrochemical Complex. It has been designed and engineered by PIDEC, which has also supervised its construction.

PIDEC has purchased various types of compressors the biggest having a capacity of 70 MW which were needed for ammonia, methanol, and aromatic projects. It has been commissioned and made operational under supervision of PIDEC experts.

As for temperature and pressure in production units, PIDEC has experience in a wide range of important design and engineering indexes as follows:

From full vacuum (very close to vacuum) to about 190 bar at urea, ammonia, and methanol units; temperatures from minus 160 to 1200 degrees centigrade at ammonia, methanol and MTBE plants.