TEHRAN - Head of National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Morteza Shah-Mirzaei said on Thursday that Russian petrochemical plants are currently using Iran-made catalysts and they have placed new orders to import more catalysts from Iran, IRNA reported.

Shah-Mirzaei said that following the negotiations between the two countries, Russia imported one ton of catalysts from the Islamic Republic earlier this year.

“One ton of Iranian catalyst is being successfully used in Russian petrochemical complexes, and Russian companies have placed new orders for the purchase of more catalysts,” the official said.

According to Shah-Mirzaei, Russians previously tested Chinese catalysts and were not satisfied with the results but Iranian catalysts have been very welcomed by their complexes.

Pointing to the support of the national oil, gas, refining, and distribution companies and the special support of the oil minister to the petrochemical industry, he emphasized: “If we are going to have a dynamic economy, we must develop the petrochemical industry.”

Shah-Mirzaei stated that 70 petrochemical complexes with an annual production capacity of 90 million tons are operating in the country and the final sale of these complexes’ products reaches about 25 billion dollars.

Petrochemical is Iran's most important industry after oil and gas. The National Petrochemical Company hopes to lift output capacity to 120 million tons per annum by the end of 2022.

The petrochemical industry has played a key role in domestic economic growth as it creates value-added and reduces the sale of oil and gas on which the economy has been dependent for decades.

With abundant hydrocarbon reserves and new private sector investments, Iran is working hard to maintain its global status in this key sector and broaden its scope.

To this end, manufacturing catalysts used in the petrochemical industry has been one of the main priorities of the Iranian Oil Ministry over the past two years and several major steps have been taken in this regard.

According to the managing director of Iran’s Petrochemical Research and Technology Company (PRTC), the country is going to become fully self-sufficient in producing the catalysts used in the petrochemical industry by the Iranian calendar year 1402 (starts in March 2023).

Majid Daftari said that out of 40 types of catalyst groups in the petrochemical industry, the knowledge for the production of 28 has been indigenized.

EF/MA