TEHRAN –Consumption of petrochemical products by the Iranian downstream industries has increased 24 percent in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-September 21) compared to the previous year’s same period of time, Shana reported, quoting an official with the National Petrochemical Company (NPC).

“Domestic sales of petrochemical products in the commodity exchange market increased by 24 percent [in the H1] compared to last year, which is an indication of the favorable development of downstream industries in the country,” Marzieh Tahmasebi, the head of NPC’s downstream development office, said.

Tahmasebi noted that the development of downstream industries will never stop in the country and one of the major plans and goals of the National Petrochemical Company is to develop this sector.

She also pointed out that Iran's petrochemical industry had previously developed on the basis of available feeds, but in the past two years the development of this industry has become smarter, and the project in this sector have been defined based on the needs of downstream industries and the market and according to feasibility studies for pioneering projects.

The country's downstream petrochemical industries, like the upstream sector, have been growing in the last seven years; the sale of petrochemical products on the commodity exchange market has grown favorably in recent years, reaching about five million tons in the previous year, she stressed.

The petrochemical industry plays a crucial role in Iran’s non-oil economy, as the export of such products 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.

Facing the restrictions that the unjust U.S. sanctions brought about for the oil industry, its development has not been halted and, with a change in strategies, the Oil Ministry has been distancing itself from crude selling and is moving toward the production of products with more value-added.

One of the major areas for the realization of this goal has been the petrochemical industry, where a wide range of valuable products can be produced from Iran’s vast oil and gas resources.

EF/MA