Iran is holding discussions with France’s Air Liquide to set up a 500,000 tonnes propylene via methanol (PVM) plant, said a report.

Esmaeil Qambari, managing director of the Petrochemical Research and Technology Company, was quoted as saying that the company is in talks with other companies from Germany, France, Norway and Japan to purchase petrochemical technologies from them, added the Iran Business News report.

He added that the company has developed a new model for its cooperation with foreign firms, and purchasing foreign technologies will take place only if foreign technologies are transferred to and localised in Iran.

Qambari noted that the new model will reduce sale of crude oil, generate jobs, link upstream sector to downstream and petrochemical sectors and generate valued added in the industry.

He further said the company launched the first PVM pilot plant in Mahshahr during the first half of the current year and has gained permission to build an industrial unit with the capacity of 120,000 tonnes in the region.