TEHRAN- Iran’s 13th International Exhibition of Plastic, Rubber, Machinery and Equipment (IRAN PLAST) will host 570 Iranian and 35 foreign companies at the Tehran International Permanent Fairground from September 22 to 25, managing director of National Petrochemical Company (NPC) announced in a press conference on Monday.

Behzad Mohammadi also said that 12 delegations from 10 countries will attend the exhibition while 14 countries will participate through single pavilions.

He said IRAN PLAST is a platform to make connection between petrochemical industry and enterprises, while flourish downstream industries.

The NPC managing director mentioned more presence of knowledge-based companies and startups in this edition of the event as one of its prominent features which has been achieved as the result of the high attention and support by the Oil Ministry to these companies during the past year.

The official said that 11 ministers of oil and energy from East Asia and neighboring countries have been invited to visit the exhibition and attend meetings with Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh for development of ties.

$17b income, 108,000 direct jobs

NPC managing director further put the annual income of petrochemical industry at $17 billion which is planned to hit $25 billion in the second leap [by the end of Iranian calendar year of 1400 (March 2022)] and will witness a significant rise in the third leap [by the end of Iranian calendar year of 1404 (March 2026)].

“It indicates the significant role of petrochemical industry in the country’s economy”, Mohammadi highlighted.

He also put the direct jobs created by this industry at 108,000, which is planned to reach 123,000 in the second leap.

The official said there are already 56 petrochemical complexes in the country of which 54 are production complexes and 2 are utility complexes.

He put the annual petrochemical capacity at 65.8 million tons which is planned to reach 100 million tons in the second leap.

Mohammadi said 44 types of chemical products and 18 types of polymer products (300 different grades) are already produced in this industry.

Referring to the feedstock that petrochemical industry receives, he said that the industry receives 33 million tons of feedstock, of which 25 million tons is directly used for production of products and eight million tons is used as fuel.

 Indigenizing all groups of catalysts

The official further mentioned indigenizing all groups of catalysts as a major objective that NPC is pursuing in the field of technology and research.

He said of the 40 groups of catalysts, 16 groups have been already indigenized, 9 groups will be indigenized in the second leap and the rest 15 groups are in the R&D stage to be indigenized.

27 projects to come on stream by March 2022

Elsewhere in his remarks, the NPC managing director said that by the next 2.5 years (that is the end of the second leap), 27 projects are going to come on stream in the petrochemical sector, among them Kaveh Methanol is a major one. The complex with the daily production capacity of 7,000 tons will be the largest methanol production unit in the world. It is scheduled to be inaugurated by the next six months (end of the current Iranian calendar year).

He said that 16 high-capacity projects are also planned to be inaugurated in the next Iranian calendar year of 1399 (March 2021-March 2022) and seven projects are scheduled for the Iranian year of 1400 (ends on March 2022).

In this way the number of petrochemical complexes will increase from the current 56 to 83 in 1400, he added.

The official also referred to the projects for the third leap (from 1400 to 1404), and said 26 projects have been defined which will boost the petrochemical capacity to 133 million tons, bringing annual income of $37 billion.

Boosting exports, flourishing downstream sector

Mohammadi further mentioned NPC’s policy to attain sustainable development, and said, “While pursuing quantity increase, we are paying special attention to rise quality to achieve two major objectives.”

“The first objective is expansion of exports and having more presence in the global markets and the second one is flourishing downstream industries inside the country and increasing employment”, he explained.