Agreements with China to open a $4-4.5 billion credit line for new petrochemical projects in Iran were unveiled in Tehran Wednesday.
The Deputy Oil Minister Ali Majedi announced that the 12 new projects in the petrochemical industry will be developed with the help of Chinese finance.
With regards to the provision of Chinese credit for Iran's petrochemical industry, Majedi said, "To date, the legal and administrative procedures for eight petrochemical projects have been completed with a further four projects in the pipeline," Mehr news agency reported.
Majedi further said that some oil and gas projects will become operational with the help of Russian funding.
Mohammad Hassan Peyvandi, deputy head of Iran's National Petrochemical Company (NPC) recently announced that the financial arrangements were in their final stages at the Central Bank of Iran (CBI). "A series of agreements between the CBI and the Chinese are needed, whereby the CBI's position should be taken into account," he asserted.
Abbas Shari-Moghadam, deputy oil minister and managing director of NPC, recently said that the petrochemical industry has requested €10 billion of Chinese finance for the petrochemical industry, of which two billion euros for ongoing petrochemical projects in Sabalan, Bushehr, Masjed-Soleyman, and Lordegan have been credited.
The deputy oil minister pointed to certain obstacles in receiving Chinese finance that are as of yet unsolved, namely the approval of prepayment and performance guarantees.
Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri,on Tuesday said following the third meeting in Tajikestan between the Iranian and Chinese presidents, Iran is now able to acquire billions of dollars of Chinese finance for its projects, with the private sector having the priority.
Now in Tajikistan’s Dushanbe, President Hassan Rouhani will take part in the 14th summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic and military organization which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
