TEHRAN- Iran’s annual production capacity of petrochemicals is estimated to reach 56 million tons by the end of current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2018), posting a record for the second consecutive year, Shana quoted an official with the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) as saying.

Ali-Mohammad Bossaqzadeh, the production control director of NPC, put the country’s petrochemical output at 51 million tons in the past calendar year, saying that using installed capacity of petrochemical production will be increased to 86 percent in this year.

The official further said that petrochemical output rose to 18 million tons in the country during the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-July 22) compared to the same period of time in the previous year.

He said 60 percent of Iran’s petrochemical products have been exported and the rest 40 percent have been distributed in domestic market.

NPC plans to export 23 million tons of petrochemical products, worth $11 billion, during the current calendar year.

Bossaqzadeh had previously announced that seven new petrochemical projects are planned to be implemented in the country by the end of current year.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the 13th edition of Iran Petrochemical Forum (IPF), which was held in Tehran on April 22 and 23, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that the future of Iran’s petrochemical industry is promising after the implementation of the nuclear deal (officially called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action which lifted sanction against Iran in January 2016).

MA/MG