TEHRAN - Iran’s petrochemical output has increased by 15 million tons over the past two years, since the current government took office, according to an official familiar with the matter.

Speaking in a meeting of Iranian operators of the petrochemical industry with First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber in Tehran on Tuesday, Ahmad Mahdavi Abhari, the director general of the Association of Petrochemical Industry Corporation (APIC), put the country’s current petrochemical output at 82 million tons.

He said Iran’s petrochemical output stood at 67 million tons before President Raisi took office in August 2021.

The official also noted that the Iranian petrochemical industry has created as many as 143,000 direct jobs in the mentioned period. 

He put the current growth of Iran’s petrochemical industry at 40.6 percent up from 27.5 percent in the country’s third five-year development plan.

Back in April, the head of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) said the company is planning to complete 13 new petrochemical projects by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (late March 2025) to further increase the country’s petrochemical output.

“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,” Morteza Shahmirzaei said.

He stated that the completion of 12 petrochemical projects by the end of this year 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).

EF/