Strike or Technical Issues: Why Are 3 Iranian Petrochemical Giants Shut Down?
Strike or Technical Issues: Why Are 3 Iranian Petrochemical Giants Shut Down? Reports have emerged over the past week about the shutdown of production lines at least 3 petrochemical complexes in the south of the country. However, managers of these three complexes cite technical issues as the reason for the shutdowns. But Iran Gate’s investigations indicate that the issue is something else.
The three petrochemical complexes, Jam Petrochemical, Arya Sasol Petrochemical, and Assaluyeh Petrochemical, announced their production lines were shut down last week. While managers of these complexes claim that technical problems caused the production halt, Iran Gate has obtained information suggesting that the work stoppage at these 3 major Iranian petrochemical companies is due to worker strikes.
According to officials from the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade and managers of the mentioned petrochemical companies, the production lines of all three companies will be halted at least until November 6th. However, Arya Sasol Petrochemical has announced that the production of heavy polyethylene will be stopped at least until November 10th.
Emergency Shutdown of Jam’s Production Line
Reports from Jam Petrochemical indicate that all production lines have been halted since November 1st. This large petrochemical production complex cites a technical defect in the Mobin Petrochemical complex as the reason for the production halt. Mobin Petrochemical supplies the necessary utility feed for this complex.
According to Jam Petrochemical, the production lines will be stopped until November 6th. However, no information about a breakthrough in utility supply for Jam Petrochemical has been published in the media. There is evidence that daily wage workers at Jam Petrochemical have protested and gone on strike in recent days. Some sources claim that the reason for Jam Petrochemical’s shutdown until November 6th is not related to technical defects but is due to widespread worker strikes.
Arya Sasol’s Production Line Halted
According to Arya Sasol Petrochemical, the production lines of heavy and light polyethylene have been temporarily halted. Arya Sasol Petrochemical announced that the heavy polyethylene production line will be shut down from November 1st to 10th, and the light polyethylene line from November 1st to 6th. According to managers of this production complex, the production halt is due to water supply issues for the cooling system. Informed sources have not yet published any credible documents regarding Arya Sasol’s shutdown due to worker strikes.
As previously mentioned, official sources of the Islamic Republic and some domestic media claim that due to the breakage of the water pipeline from Mobin Energy of the Persian Gulf to Arya Sasol Polymer, which shares pumps and the main header of the mentioned pipeline with the seawater pipeline sent to Jam Petrochemical, emergency repairs of this pipeline by Mobin Energy have begun today.
However, no evidence of protests and strikes at this complex has been made available to the media yet, but given the simultaneous production halt of this complex with other petrochemical companies involved in strikes, it is suspected that Arya Sasol has also been forced to stop production due to worker dissatisfaction.
Shutdown of Strategic Industries at Assaluyeh Petrochemical
Based on the previously mentioned information and reported news, all production units of Jam Petrochemical, polymer units of Arya Sasol, and styrene and ethylbenzene units of Pars Petrochemical have been stopped since November 1st.
However, according to official news channels, this incident occurred due to a technical defect in the water transfer line for the cooling system of strategic industry complexes at Assaluyeh Petrochemical. None of these three major Iranian petrochemical companies have yet announced the resumption date of their production.
But Iran Gate has received reports that the shutdown of Assaluyeh Petrochemical is due to strikes similar to those of daily wage workers at Jam Petrochemical. Domestic media have also somewhat reported on these strikes, but the government of Ebrahim Raisi has not yet confirmed the shutdown of these three petrochemical industry giants due to strikes.
Production stoppages due to technical defects at Assaluyeh Petrochemical have occurred before. However, the prolonged duration of this shutdown and the lack of a specified date for resuming production have fueled suspicions surrounding the issue.
Several reports and analyses published on Iran Gate related to this matter
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