IRAQ - The Petrochemical Sector.
Before the 1991 war, Baghdad had impressive plans for its petrochemicals industry. Baathist officials in 1995 said that, after the sanctions, Iraq may become one of the world's largest exporters of petrochemicals.
One of the targets for allied bombing in January 1991 was the 1.5m t/y petrochemical complex at Al-Musayyib, in the centre, which was intended to become an industrial zone matching those of Baiji to the north or Khor Al-Zubair to the south. Technical teams have managed to rehabilitate several of the damaged plants which now meet domestic requirements for a range of plastics. But, as with oil products, the quality has been questionable since most units were only partly restored. Iraq has two main petrochemical complexes, one at Khor Al-Zubair near Basra, called PC-1, and the other under construction at Musayib, 60 km south of Baghdad called PC-2. Both owned and run by the State Enterprise for Petrochemicals (SEP).
PC-1 - Khor Al Zubair - was badly damaged in the previous war, by March 1991 leaving Iraq with no thermo-plastic building blocks. It resumed limited operations in February 1992. The complex was mothballed on its completion in 1980 because of the 1980-88 war with Iran. It went on stream in early 1989 to produce: 130,000 t/y of ethane-based ethylene; 110,000 t/y of ethylene dichloride; 60,000 t/y of LDPE; 30,000 t/y of HDPE; 66,000 t/y of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM); and 60,000 t/y of PVC.
PC-1 was built by Lummus Crest of the US and Thyssen Rheinstahl Technik of Germany. It cost over $1 bn.
PC-2 - Musayib: Construction of this complex, in central Iraq, had been postponed since the early 1980s because of the war with Iran. Soon after Iran accepted the ceasefire in August 1988, SEP went ahead with the project. A UK unit of Bechtel was contracted as a technical consultant and did the initial studies. The complex was nearly complete as the 1991 war began. Allied bombing severely damaged its units. It was brought on stream partly in October 1992, with Iraqi engineers having done the designs. Its ethylene unit was to have a 250,000 t/y capacity compared to 420,000 t/y planned.
Musayib was being developed as an industrial centre, with West Qurna field to provide crude oil, fuel and gas feedstocks. Under pre-war plans, the first phase of PC-2 was to cost up to $2.5 bn and was due to come on stream in the second half of 1991. It was to have the following capacities:
