Iran is building a huge petrochemical complex worth $12 billion in Chabahar which is wholly funded and owned by the private sector which is hoped to lead to a transformation of the country's southeast.
The Makran Petrochemical Plan — the biggest project yet undertaken by private owners in Iran — aims to produce 23 million metric tons of products a year, 20 million tons of which are intended for exports, Press TV reported.
Currently, petrochemical production capacity in Iran stands at 60 million metric tons. Revenues from the industry which is the biggest source of foreign earnings for Iran after oil was about $14 billion in the year to March 20, 2015.
Divided into three construction phases, the Makran complex is scheduled to come on stream over a period of nine years and will include 17 production units. Nine private investors, two Iranian banks and three pension funds are financing the project.
The first phase of the complex, which will become operational before March 2016, will have a production capacity of 8.5 million metric tons of petrochemicals worth $5 billion in exports, said Hassan Malek-Esmaeili, who is in charge of the project, on Thursday.
Exports will rise to $11 billion with the completion of the second phase in 2020.
The last phase is envisaged to come on stream in 2021 to produce 7.5 million metric tons of aromatics and polyethylene products, he said.
The first phase of the project will use methane on the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline as feedstock. In the second phase, a separate pipeline, extending 1,051 kilometers from Assaluyeh, will be built to carry ethane.
Meanwhile, gas condensates will be carried on vessels from Assaluyeh for use in the third phase of the complex which will produce eight petrochemical products.
The project is also expected to create 20,000 jobs in Sistan-Baluchestan province and bring about a major development of the region. It will include the construction of 30 downstream units for the first time in Iran's petrochemical townships.
Chabahar is strategically positioned along the coast of the Gulf of Oman, providing a transit corridor which is gaining increasing prominence.
India is planning investment in Chabahar Port in a bid to open up a route to landlocked Afghanistan and the Central Asia.
Chababar is also ideally placed to ship Iran's petrochemicals to Asian markets which have the world's highest demand for such products.
Iranian energy officials have said about $70 billion is needed in the petrochemical industry over the next 10 years.