Baku, Azerbaijan, May 20
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
U.S. company, UOP, has not delivered a special catalyst to Iran's Isfahan Refinery under pressures as a result of sanctions imposed on Iran's oil sector.
Abbas Kazemi, Managing director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, said that Iranian producers have been participating to produce the catalyst inside the country, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on May 20.
The catalyst will be used in producing high-quality gasoline by the refinery, he noted.
On January 3, Iran's Shana news agency quoted Iranian deputy oil minister Mohammadreza Moqaddam as saying that Iran was among the world's major producers of petrochemical catalysts.
The Iranian petrochemical industry has attained significant achievements in the past three years, so that it is currently one of the main producers of catalysts in the world, he explained.
Iran has indigenized 38 technologies for producing petrochemical catalysts, he said, adding that the number will reach 110 by the end of the fifth five-year national development plan (2015).
According to media reports, currently, some 6,000 tons of the catalysts is being used in the country per year.
Iran imports some $2 billion worth of catalysts, additives, and equipment from European and Asian countries annually.