TEHRAN- Iran needs $7.5 billion to boost its annual petrochemical production capacity to 60 million tons from the currently 45 million tons, Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC)'s Managing Director Abbas She’ri Moqaddam said on Saturday.

He made the statement in a press conference on the last day of the 20th Oil, Gas, Refining, and Petrochemical Exhibition of Iran (Iran Oil Show 2015), which ran from May 6 to 9 at the Tehran Permanent International Fairgrounds, with 1,200 Iranian and 600 foreign companies in attendance.

Referring to the growth in the number of foreign companies participating in this edition of the event, the official said that foreign firms are very keen to return to the Iranian market once the sanctions against the country are lifted.

Some of the foreign companies have put forward noticeable offers for financing Iranian projects after the sanctions, he added.

There are currently 67 semi-finished petrochemical projects in the country, She’ri Moqaddam said, adding that the projects are complete by 20-90 percent.

On April 13, the official said some $30 billion of investment opportunities have been identified in Iran’s petrochemical sector, which will be certainly welcomed by European and Asian investors if the sanctions against the country are lifted.

A line of credit has been opened for building four petrochemical plants in the country, namely the Masjed Soleiman plant, the Sabalan plant, the Lordegan plant, and the Bushehr plant, he added.