Managing director of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) says the company is planning to build a gas-to-propylene (GTP) plant through joint investment with a European bank.
Abbas Sha'ri-Moqaddam told Shana on Sunday that the GTP plant, with an annual capacity of 120,000 tons, will be built as joint venture by NPC and the European bank, which he did not name.
Based on plans, he added, the pilot GTP plant of the Petrochemical Research and Technology Company will soon turn into a bigger plant with annual capacity of 120,000 tons.
Noting that the Oil Ministry has issued permits for the new GTP plant, the official added that funds for implementing the project will be provided by NPC along with a European bank, which will provide the foreign exchange for establishing the plant.
Meanwhile, Esmail Qanbari, managing director of the Petrochemical Research and Technology Company told Shana that the total cost of constructing a GTP plant with the annual capacity of 120,000 tons has been estimated at about €90 million.
"At present, the pilot GTP plant is capable of producing one ton of propylene per day and its product conforms to all international standards," he said.
In an interview in mid-July, Sha'ri-Moqaddam said Iran's petrochemical sector is ready to attract further foreign investment once the sanctions are lifted as per the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached between Iran and the P5+1 (the US, the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany) on July 14 in Vienna.
According to JCPOA, sanctions against Iran's economic sectors, including oil and gas industry, will be lifted in return for certain restrictions on Tehran's nuclear program.
Sha'ri-Moqaddam noted that petrochemical industry needs huge investments and technology transfer in view of the special nature of its activities.
He hoped that JCPOA would pave the way for "the transfer of advanced technical processes and know-how, over which we were facing restrictions as a result of sanctions".
According to Ahmad Mahdavi Abhari, the secretary of the Association of Petrochemical Industry Corporations (AIPC), Iranian petrochemical industry is capable of attracting $70 billion in domestic and foreign investment.
The official added that the value of incomplete projects in Iran's petrochemical sector amounts to $70 billion, proving that the sector has a good potential to attract foreign investment.