TEHRAN – The head of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) has said the country’s petrochemical exports are expected to reach 29 million tons by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 19).

According to Morteza Shahmirzaei, the expected figure shows a 1.5-million-ton increase compared to the total exports in the previous year, Shana reported.

The country produced 69.5 million tons of petrochemicals in the previous year (March 2022-March 2023), said the official, predicting the figure will top 75 million tons this year.

Shifting to the petrochemical plans, he said 12 projects, including Gachsaran Petrochemical Complex and Persian Gulf Hoveyzeh Gas Refinery, were inaugurated as pledged in the current Iranian year, adding other projects such as Arian Methanol, Petronad, Nakhl Asmari, and Hengam are ready for the official inauguration.

Shahmirzaei also touched upon the collection of flare gases and said most of the associated gases are gathered in the Persian Gulf Bidboland Gas Refinery, NGL 3200, and Persian Gulf Hoveyzeh Gas Refinery.

The NGL 3100 project in Dehloran, the western province of Ilam, will become operational in the coming Iranian year, said the deputy oil minister, vowing NPC will capture all associated gases to prevent the burning of the national wealth.

He pointed to the development of energy diplomacy in the 13th government and said the activity program in offshore petrochemical industries is being followed seriously and good successes have been achieved in this regard. With the expansion of relations with neighboring and aligned countries, other countries have demanded the supply of catalysts, equipment, and machinery from Iran.

Stating that Iran's petrochemical industry exported more than 16 billion dollars of petrochemical products to the world markets last year, he added that the products supplied to the world markets are in excess of the domestic demand because the priority of the petrochemical industry is to meet the domestic needs in order to complete the value chain.

The NPC head had previously put the country’s petrochemical production capacity at over 92 million tons, and said: “Today we are almost self-sufficient in the main petrochemical sectors including products and equipment.”

Iran's petrochemical industry accounts for 28 percent of the region's petrochemical capacity and 2.7 percent of the world's petrochemical capacity, he announced.

The petrochemical industry plays a crucial role in Iran’s non-oil economy, as petrochemical export is the second-largest source of revenue for the country after crude oil. Petrochemical exports already constitute nearly 33 percent of the country’s non-oil exports.

According to Shahmirzaei, the company plans to increase its annual petrochemical production capacity to 200 million tons over the next 10 years.

In this regard, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Oji said that more than 100 petrochemical projects with a total investment of about $70 billion have been defined and will be implemented across the country.

Oji noted that the country will also be completely self-sufficient in producing the catalysts used in the petrochemical industry by the end of the current government administration's incumbency (August 2025).

EF/