Annual petrochemical production capacity could hit 180 million tons within the next 10 years, 3 times more than the current capacity, deputy managing director of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) said Saturday.
Mohammad Hassan Peyvandi noted that NPC has recently devised a roadmap, which includes steps that should be taken by petrochemical industry officials to improve the process and also the quality of petrochemical production in the country, Shana reported. He noted that the new plan also deals with semi-finished petrochemical projects left from 4th and 5th 5-year economic development plans. "These projects need 35 billion dollars in investment to be completed," the NPC official stated.
“In case the required finances are provided, petrochemical production capacity will reach 180 million tons by 2015, which is the final year of the 20-Year Vision Plan," Peyvandi said, adding that once this objective is realized, Iran will acquire the top spot in petrochemical industry in the Middle East.
The NPC flowchart, according to Peyvandi, also makes mention of boosting propylene production and completion of petrochemical value chain as two other main objectives that should be taken into consideration for development of domestic petrochemical industry.
He added that petrochemical production rose 36-fold in the past 25 years mainly by reliance on domestic resources and despite restrictions caused by international sanctions. According to official data, Iran’s petrochemical exports in 2013 hit 12.8 million tons and 9.9 billion dollars in terms of weight and value, respectively, while domestic consumption stood at 14.5 million tons.
