PNOC in talks with Iranian firm for petrochem joint venture

PNOC Petrochemical Development Corp. (PPDC) is pursuing talks with Iranian Petrochemical Commercial Co. (IPPC) for a possible joint venture in the business of strategic stockpile, fertilizer and petrochemical by-products.

"We will be pushing through with our talks with our Iranian counterpart in the areas where we both believe we can have our resources pooled together," PNOC president Thelmo Cunanan said.

Earlier, PNOC offered Subic as possible site for a regional stockpile. "We want to show them other areas aside from Subic," he said.

PPDC, the petrochemical development arm of the state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC), started talks with IPPC more than a year ago, leading to the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with IPPC.

"We plan to bring them into action or get them as investors in both upstream and midstream petrochemical industry," Cunanan said.

The PNOC official admitted that there was a slight delay in the negotiations between the two petrochemical firms due to lack of budget on the part of PPDC.

"Due to some budget constraints, we were not able to send our team to Iran. IPPC, for its part, had already sent its own technical group to the Philippines to make its own study. We will try to get the budget to be able to let our technical team visit Iran anytime soon," he said.

Based on the MOU, they should be able to firm up a decision whether to push through with the partnership or not within six months to one year of conducting feasibility studies.

"When we say integrated, we hope they could participate in the naphtha cracker plant, midstream and downstream petrochem industry," he said.

In February 2003, PNOC also signed an MOU with the National Iranian Oil Co. (NOIC), which then committed to supply crude oil to the Philippines during unusual market supply conditions and emergency situations.

Aside from ensuring continuous supply, NOIC also signified its willingness to forge a possible joint venture with PNOC to further expand the supply of Iranian crude oil to the Philippines.

The MOU also calls for the two parties to conduct a study on the feasibility of establishing an Iran-RP oil storage facility in a location mutually acceptable for the storage of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products in the Philippines. – Donnabelle Gatdula