A total of eight petrochemical projects will go on stream in the current Iranian year (started March 21), a senior energy official said.
“Output from petrochemical complexes across the country is increasing,” Ali-Mohammad Bosaqzadeh, production manager at National Petrochemical Company, said.
Petrochemical plants have produced over 18 million tons of petrochemicals in the first four months of the year, Mehr News Agency quoted him as saying in a press conference on Tuesday.
Petrochemical complexes in Asalouyeh, Mahshahr and other regions have seen a 7%, 1% and 3% increase in production respectively, while total petrochemical production has increased by 4% on average.
In the four-month period, Mehr, Laleh, Shiraz, Khorasan, Shazand, Kermanshah, Khark and Kermanshah petrochemical plants have operated at over 90% of their capacity. Production in several other complexes, including Maroun, Nouri, Pardis, Aryasasoul, Tabriz, Isfahan, Ghadir, Ilam, Karoun, Farabi, Razi, Arya Phosphoric and Urmia, has increased by 10% compared with the corresponding period of last year.
“There are various reasons behind the lower output from some complexes,” Bosaqzadeh said. “The underproduction is 44% attributable to a lack of feedstock, 28% to operational activities and 16.5% to processing difficulties.”
More than 6 million tons of petrochemical products, valued at $3.6 billion, were exported in this period. Export of petrochemicals has increased by 12% in terms of weight and 6% in terms of value compared with the same period of last year.
In addition, around 4.4 million tons of petrochemicals worth 86,000 billion rials ($2.6 billion) were sold domestically.
