TEHRAN – The managing director of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) said petrochemical industry is not like oil industry and it is practically unsanctionable.

“For oil the ways of selling and the costumers are specific and limited but that is not the case with petrochemicals. There are hundreds of holdings which are eager for buying our diverse petrochemical products”, Behzad Mohammadi told the Tehran Times in a press conference on the sidelines of the 24th Iran International, Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition (Iran Oil Show 2019).

“However, we are holding meetings with our customers to explore various aspects of possible impacts of the U.S. sanctions on our trade", he added.

Exporting 21 million tons of petrochemicals

The official put the country’s current petrochemicals output at 55.5 million tons, of which 21 million tons is being exported to 30 different destinations across the globe.

According to the NPC managing director, the value of Iran’s petrochemical exports stands at $17.1 billion.

Mohammadi further said that the total value of petrochemical exports and domestic sales is planned to reach $25 billion by the end of Iranian calendar year of 1400 (March 2022).

18 new petchem projects to go operational in 2 years

Elsewhere in his remarks, Mohammadi noted that three new petrochemical projects will be inaugurated in the current Iranian calendar year (March 2019-March 2020) while 15 projects are expected to go operational by the end of the next Iranian calendar year (March 2021).

He said the mentioned projects will include development projects in Parisian Special Economic Zone and also in Mahshahr Petrochemical Special Economic Zone both in southern Iran.

Mohammadi also mentioned the petrochemical industry’s potentials in creating job opportunities across the country, saying “currently over 108,000 direct employees are working in various fields of the petrochemical industry.”

EF/MA