TEHRAN – The managing director of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) said on Saturday that several petrochemical projects with a total investment of $3 billion are currently underway in Ilam Province in western Iran, Shana reported.

“Knowledge-based companies, manufacturers of equipment and goods, and other capable domestic companies have an active presence in these projects,” Morteza Shahmirzaei said on the sidelines of a visit to some petrochemical development projects in Ilam province.

In late August, the official had announced that Iran’s annual export of petrochemicals is expected to reach $18 billion in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2023).

Shahmirzaei said that currently, the petrochemical sector has the highest added value in the oil industry chain.

The official further put the country’s annual petrochemical production capacity at 90 million tons.

“Some products were not considered in the previous periods and we were faced with their import at the cost of five billion dollars”, he said, adding, “The products of the propylene chain are of special importance and include 70 percent of the total petrochemical imports. To reduce the dependency, the petrochemical company has focused on the development of value chain projects.”

He went on to say that supply of propylene is important for the supply of feed for this chain, and currently, the production capacity of propylene is one million tons per year, and the country's need is more than this amount.

The official explained that 95 percent of propylene produced in the country is used for the production of polypropylene and five percent is used in other sectors. On a global scale last year, 68 percent was in polypropylene and 32 percent in other sectors, so Iran's consumption pattern is different from the world’s pattern.

In the petrochemical industry’s 10-year strategic outlook plan, 35 projects with a nominal capacity of 13 million tons per year for the production of propylene are predicted, which will increase the production capacity of propylene to 14 million tons, of which 11 million tons will be consumed in polypropylene and three million tons in other sectors, Shahmirzaei announced.

EF/MA