Iran holds 21 percent of the Middle East’s petrochemical market, said the deputy oil minister and managing director of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC).
Abbas Shari-Moghadam stated that Iran’s petrochemical market share in the Middle East will “significantly increase” when the 67 incomplete petrochemical projects come on stream in the next five years, IRNA reported.
Iran’s direct petrochemicals export to Europe has decreased over the past few years, leading the country to expand exports in Asia, East Asia and particularly the Middle East.
Production capacity of petrochemical and polymers has reached 60 million tons per year.
The volume is expected to increase by 2 million tons upon the completion of 6 petrochemical plants in the near future, including phase 2 of Kavian Petrochemical Co. with an annual production capacity of 1 million tons and phase 2 of Karoon Petrochemical Co. as well as Mahabad, Lorestan, Takhte Jamshid and Hegmataneh complexes.
More than 90 percent of the stocks of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) subsidiaries have been sold to the private sector for a total value of $15 billion. Chemical and petrochemical companies’ shares in the bourse value around $22 billion.
