Should the government seek to revive the petrochemical industry and boost its position in the global arena, it needs to consider reintegrating the key sector, an energy expert said.
"An important ingredient for success in the petrochemical sector is a renewed focus on cohesion, this time enhanced by bringing back the national brand like National Petrochemical Company," Hamidreza Shokouhi also told NIPNA on Wednesday.
Referring to the unrivaled potential of Iran for investment and growth in the petrochemical sector, he said that prior to the privatization of the sector in the 2000s, Iran had a key role in the sale of petrochemical products in the global markets.
However, he added that lack of integrity among active petrochemical players is the main hurdle in promoting the industry.
Commenting on Saudi Arabia's success in selling petrochemical commodities, he noted that all their products are being commercialized under the same name.
"After the sector's privatization, companies with different brands have been striving to gain the trust of foreign investors and attract finance to develop the gamut of their activities," he said
"To retake our lost market share, we also need to commercialize our products by integrating active industries in this field. As long as petrochemical complexes are individually involved in undertaking their initiatives, we cannot compete with giants like Aramco whose ambitious plans for expansion are matched by an integrated infrastructure."
Incomplete Ventures
Shokouhi noted that in the past decade, multiple petrochemical projects have been launched without specifying the source of funding, which have only increased challenges facing the sector.
"Plans have been envisaged for boosting export revenues and creating jobs, while the authorities did not notice that petrochemical is among the costliest sectors for job creation," he added.
The official noted that over the course of the past five years, since 2013 when President Hassan Rouhani took office, 15 major petrochemical projects have come on stream.
Reportedly, NPC aims to launch 52 plans to become the biggest petrochemical producer of the region by 2026.
Several ventures like Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex, Shahid Tondgouyan Petrochemical Complex in Bandar Mahshahr, Takht-e-Jamshid Petrochemical Plant in Mahshahr Special Petrochemical Economic Zone in Khuzestan Province and Urmia Petrochemical Plant in West Azarbaijan Province with a respective production capacity 150,000 tons, 26,000 tons, 50,000 tons and 40,000 tons per annum are underway.
Other ventures, namely Kavian Petrochemical Plant in Asalouyeh, Nouri and Jam petrochemical companies in the southern Bushehr Province as well as Morvarid and Mobin petrochemical complexes in the southern port city of Asalouyeh, are projected to become complete by the end of the current fiscal year.
However, lack of liquidity has slowed down the implementation of many projects.
Impact of Sanctions Trivial
Shokouhi also referred to the US sanctions, saying that unlike what many believe, sanctions are not among top issues facing the sector.
"The country can definitely find a way to circumvent sanctions and develop the petrochemical industry under those limitations," he said.
According to Shokouhi, irrespective of the tighter US constraints reimposed on May 8 by US President Donald Trump, and with regard to Iran’s petrochemical advantages, such as abundant resources of natural gas as feedstock and domestic production that has significantly progressed in the past few years, the industry will not face serious problems.
Petrochemical is Iran's biggest industry after oil and gas.
NPC hopes to lift nominal output capacity to more than 120 million tons per annum by 2022, the last year of Iran's Sixth Five-Year Economic Development Plan.
