TEHRAN - Director of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC)’s Projects says with several new projects going operational, the country’s petrochemical production capacity is going to increase significantly in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20).

“In the year of "Surge in Production", the petrochemical industry is trying to benefit from the most of the domestic capabilities and with new petrochemical projects being inaugurated, the production capacity in this industry will increase significantly,” IRNA quoted Ali-Mohammad Bosaqzadeh as saying.

He said the petrochemical industry is now the center and pillar of the country's economic development and is in close collaboration with all industrial sectors, adding that injecting resources into the productive sectors and prohibiting the waste of national resources can lead to the second and third leaps in the petrochemical industry.

Noting that the balanced development of the petrochemical industry is of particular interest among NPC strategies for the current year, he said: "In this regard, the development of downstream petrochemical industries is going to prevent the sale of raw materials and will result in the production of products with higher added value.”

He further noted that most of the underway projects in this industry are currently using domestic equipment, licenses and technological knowledge of Iranian experts.

Considering the undeniable significance of the petrochemical industry in Iran’s resilient economy in the sanctions era, the Iranian Oil Ministry and the country’s National Petrochemical Company have been taking major steps to facilitate further development of this industry in recent years.

Back in September 2019, Bosaqzadeh noted that Iran's annual petrochemical output, which is currently at nearly 70 million tons, is planned to reach more than 100 million tons by the Iranian calendar year of 1400 (ends on March 2022) and to 130 million tons or nearly doubled) by 1404 (ends on March 2026).

Also in August 2019, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh had announced that the country’s annual petrochemical output is expected to reach more than 100 million tons by 2021, despite U.S. sanctions.

EF/MA