TEHRAN - Highlighting the development of Iran’s petrochemical industry, the head of the country’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) said the production capacity of the industry will reach more than 100 million tons by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2025).

Speaking at the National Asia-Europe Oil and Gas Conference, Morteza Shahmirzaei said the Islamic Republic, with rich oil and gas reserves, has had an outstanding and special place in the world’s energy map since many years ago.

The NPC chief termed Iran an anchor of peace, stability, and security in the region and emphasized that Iran, which possesses a long coastline from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean, plays an important role as a lifeline for the passage and transportation of oil, gas condensates, liquified gas, various petrochemical products, and other products.

Iran’s petrochemical industry is considered one of the important players in the world in the field of presenting quality technical and engineering services and is ready to cooperate with other countries in the field of producing and selling petrochemical equipment, he said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Shahmirzaei pointed to the accelerated trend of the development of Iran’s petrochemical industry and said the production capacity of this industry surpassed 95 million tons in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended March 19, 2024), IRNA reported.

Iran’s petrochemical industry has established fair interaction and cooperation with like-minded countries such as Russia and Central Asian states, the deputy oil minister added.

Earlier this week, Shahmirzaei said NPC is planning to complete 13 new petrochemical projects by the end of the current Iranian calendar year.

“One of the strategies of the petrochemical industry in the year "production leap with people's participation" is to put 12 new petrochemical projects into operation by the end of [the current Iranian calendar]1403 and use all available capacities,” he said.

The official stated that the completion of the mentioned projects will have a significant impact on the growth of production and economic development of the country.

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).

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