Tehran – Iran plans to produce $125m worth of petrochemical catalysts annually, by the end of the Iranian calendar year of 1400 (March 20, 2022), Shana reported on Wednesday, quoting a petrochemical official.

Speaking in the inauguration ceremony of Takht-e-Jamshid petrochemical plant in southern Iran, the Managing Director of the country’s Petrochemical Research and Technology Company (PRTC) Ali Pajouhan said all the mentioned catalysts will be consumed by petrochemical plants inside the country.

Noting that the country’s petrochemical industry is currently using 40 different types of catalysts which cost the industry $260 million annually, the official added: “Currently, the knowledge for producing 16 of the mentioned 40 types has been indigenized which would save the country $105 million every year.”

Earlier on Thursday, the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) held a seminar on the indigenization of petrochemical industry catalysts in Kish Island.

According to the seminar’s Executive Secretary Mohammad-Amin Ebrahimi, the mentioned seminar was aimed to create a common language and synergy between catalyst producers and consumers and also to provide a platform to discuss and evaluate the performance of the native catalysts.

Back in September 2019, Pajouhan had said that the country’s petrochemical complexes were keen on utilizing domestic catalysts in their operations.

The official noted that significant steps were taken for the domestic production of catalysts used in petrochemical processes in Iran.

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 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 the key sector and broaden its scope.

EF/MA