IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK

TEHRAN – Deputy Oil Minister and CEO of National Petrochemical Company (NPC) says the production capacity of petrochemical sector will reach 86m tons by yearend and called for stopping launch of blind development in this sector.

Mr. Behzad Mohammad in an interview with ILNA highlighted the performance of petrochemical industry last year, saying that smartization of the petrochemical industry is the only way of remaining in the international market.

He said since last year, no new petrochemical complex has joined the industry and the production was almost the same as its preceding year. He further said 23m tons of almost 31m tons of marginal product were exported and remaining 8m tons were offered in the domestic market. He further said that 6m tons of 8m tons of products in the domestic market were offered in the bourse.

Mohammadi noted that the price of petrochemical products last year declined by 30 percent on average, noting that the total revenues of the petrochemical industry stood at $14.5b that $9.5b have been earned through exports and the remaining was earned in the domestic market.

He further said despite all woes and sanctions, the petrochemical industry earned 22 percent more forex than the ceiling which had been set by the NIMA and it means the industry injected $8.2b into the NIMA system, almost $600m more than its preceding year.

Mohammadi said that the outbreak of the virus has led to drastic slump in demand as well as decline in oil products consumption, adding that the fall in demand for crude oil led to 40 percent decrease in demand for petrochemical products.

He noted that 16 petrochemical projects are to come on stream by the yearend and by inauguration of those projects, the marginal product will soar from 31m to 37m tons, admitting that four projects out of 16 projects may be affected by the virus pandemic and they come on stream next year, reiterating that 12 projects will come on stream this year for sure. He said those projects worth over $12b.

He also warned about uncalculated and blind development of petrochemical projects, adding that the projects should be based on the demands and markets.

Mohammadi added that currently, the refineries and petrochemical companies produce some 985,000 tons of propylene,  175,000 tons shy of the domestic demand, noting that the propylene production will hit 1950,000 tons by 2025 which will be 700,000 tons shy the domestic need.

He predicted that the production capacity in this sector to hit 86m tons by the yearend.

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IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK

The event was inaugurated at Tehran’s permanent fairgrounds in the presence of Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh, CEO of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Behzad Mohammadi and a number of senior energy and petrochemical officials.

As many as 570 domestic and 35 foreign exhibitors run stand at the exhibit this year.

Moreover, 12 delegations from 10 countries are to visit the fair this year.

The delegations will come from such countries as Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Vietnam, Armenia, Kenya, India, and Tunisia.

Moreover, individual businessmen from Italy, Ukraine, China, Romania, Russia, Syria and Lebanon have planned to visit the fair.

Introducing the capabilities of startups and knowledge-based companies, holding seminars and workshops on downstream industries, and signing cooperation agreements between active petrochemical companies are among the programs anticipated at the 13th Iran Plast Exhibition.

The ECO Plus Conference will also be held at the end of the 13th Iran Plast International Exhibition. The ministers of oil and energy of Central Asian and neighboring countries are to visit the exhibition, and discuss enhanced cooperation and investment opportunities in the field.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Zangeneh said preventing sale of raw materials including crude oil and gas was one of the main plans of the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum, adding production of $25-billion worth of petrochemicals by 2021 was a major leap in the industry which would continue.

The oil minister official said the country was on the threshold of the third leap in the petrochemical industry.

“Back in the 1997, under President Khatami, when I was the then-minister of petroleum, the value of petrochemical output of the country was $1 billion, but we could launch a large number of petrochemical projects by the efforts of the administration, the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum and the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) until 2005,” he said.

Zangeneh further said that Iran’s ethane production capacity would reach 16 million tons per year by 2021 from 4.2 mt/y back in 2013. The items’ current production capacity is 7.3 mt/y.

He said that the country’s petrochemical production capacity would cross 100 mt/y by 2021, adding 27 projects will come on stream in the country by 2021.

The official said that the petrochemical production capacity of the country would reach 130 mt/y by 2025 valued at $37 billion.

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