Attracting foreign direct investments to finance Iran's lucrative petrochemical projects tops the agenda of National Petrochemical Company, since it is a strategically safer choice, NPC Managing Director Abbas Sheri-Moqaddam said.
"Having invested in other parts of the world, such companies are more protective of their assets and meticulous in their decision-making processes," he was quoted by IRNA as saying on Tuesday.
"In the next step, Iranian firms could enter into joint ventures with interested foreign contractors as they have often done in the past."
Petrochemical complexes, including Abadan, Razi and Kharg, were partly financed by American firms soon after NPC's institution in 1964.
"The Japanese were the next in line to create the largest petrochemical complex in the world in Bandar Imam Khomeini under a 50-50 joint venture," he said.
There were no new developments from that point on and until President Hassan Rouhani took office, when the energy and petrochemical company Sasol, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, undertook the joint venture construction of Arya Sasol Polymer Company in Iran's Pars Special Economic Energy Zone.
The NPC chief said financing is our third option to provide the needed financial resources, although it has specific executive problems such as providing letters of guarantee.
"The company's promptness in settling its debts has created a credible reputation for it among credit institutions willing to offer loans to Iranian companies under NPC's name," he said.
Sheri-Moqaddam announced his organization's plans to form a foreign exchange fund to develop the Iranian petrochemical industry, hoping that fresh holdings such as Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, Tamin Petroleum and Petrochemical Investment Company, Parsian Oil and Gas Development Company and the Social Security Investment Company can help revive the dynamic role of NPC in the present time.
NPC has estimated that Iran's nominal petrochemical production capacity will reach 62.6 million tons this year.
It expects total petrochemical exports to hit $11 billion while domestic sales are estimated to reach $11.1 billion, bringing the overall value of petrochemical sales to exceed $22 billion by March. The volume is also expected to surpass the 50-million-ton milestone by March 2016.
