Petrochemical production capacity is planned to reach 180 million tons by 2022, managing director of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) said Monday, Shana news agency reported.
"There are 67 unfinished petrochemical projects with a total capacity of 60 million tons," Mohammad Hassan Peyvandi said. "Sixty more projects are in the pipeline, which when operational will increase output by 60 million tons, raising total annual production capacity to 180 million."
Iran has the capacity to annually produce 60 million tons of petrochemicals. However, last year's output was nearly 20 million below this figure due to the shortage of feedstock.
Peyvandi referred to the relatively easy access to feedstock and trade with Indian and Chinese markets as a comparative advantage and said Iran is the "only country" with capacity for overall development in this key industry. Petrochem export increased by nearly 7 percent in the March-October period compared to the same period last year. There are five incomplete methanol production units in Iran which would increase methanol output to 25 million tons per year when completed by 2019.
Petrochemicals comprise approximately 40 percent of Iran's non-oil exports.
