Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.3
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: The Industrial Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO) of Iran managed to produce six catalysts which are highly used in the oil, gas, and steel industries, IRNA reported on Feb. 3.
For instance, 130 tons of a catalyst, which is used in the steel industry, has been produced. Some 700 tons of the catalyst is needed annually for the steel industry.
Producing the catalyst domestically will create 200 direct jobs and will save $15 million for the country annually.
Iran is now among the world's major producers of petrochemical catalysts, the Shana News Agency quoted Iranian deputy oil minister Mohammadreza Moqaddam as saying on Jan.3.
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.
Iran exported $8.116 billion worth of petrochemical products in the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 21, according to the latest report released by the Iranian Customs Administration.
The value of Iran's annual petrochemical output may double to $40 billion, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said in September.
For the time being, the value of domestic petrochemical products per year is about $20 billion, he said, hoping that the figure would increase to $40 billion.
Edited by C.N.