Iran plans to put seven petrochemical projects into operation by the end of current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2016), according to an official with Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC).
Marzieh Shahdaie, the board of director’s member of NPC, said these projects, which are among 17 prioritized plans of Iran’s petrochemical sector, will boost the country’s annual petrochemical production by 4 million tons, the Shana News Agency reported.
She put the cost of projects at €1.7 billion plus 16.6 trillion rials (about $500 million).
Iran produced 11.5 million tons of petrochemical products in spring, which corresponds to the first three months of the Iranian calendar year.
Some 2.7 million tons of petrochemical products, worth about 21 trillion rials (about $632 million based on free market rate), were sold in the domestic market, while one million ton of products, worth $9 billion, were exported.
The country’s annual petrochemical output is projected to be doubled to 120 million tons.
The petrochemical industry is the biggest source of foreign earnings for Iran after oil, put around $14 billion last year, Press TV reported on July 13.
According to NPC Managing Director Abbas She’ri Moqaddam, several European countries have indicated their willingness to invest in Iran's petrochemical sector.