The petrochemical sector requires $33 billion in investments to reach the 55 million tons of petrochemical products targeted in current projects, the deputy oil minister said Sunday.
Investment in petrochemical sector can generate $26 billion revenue per annum, Abbas Shari Moghaddam was quoted by Moj news agency as saying.
“There are currently 11-25 prioritized projects in need of investments. Due to become operational in the next four years,” Shari Moghaddam said. “Production from these projects will increase petrochemical output by around 10 million tons.”
Around 10 million tons of methanol will enter the global market, if the required funds for seven methanol projects in Assalouyeh are finalized.
Up to now, development of the petrochemical sector was largely related to ethylene production, owing to abundance of ethane. However, for further development of the downstream sector propylene production should commence.
“Propylene gives rise to and feeds an extensive chain of downstream industries. Thus, the country has plans to produce propylene from methanol, so that methanol prices are also not hurt,” Shari Moghaddam stated.
Due to shortage of propylene, downstream and complementary industries have been unable to function as expected, Mohammad Hassan Peyvandi, deputy head of the National Petrochemical Company was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying in September.
