Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 11
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Three petrochemical refineries will be established by Iran's private sector in the southern port of Assalouyeh, the Shana News Agency quoted Pars Special Energy Zone's development director Hojjatollah Fereidooni as saying.
The private sector has called for establishing 14 oil and petrochemical refineries in Assalouyeh, but to date permission has only been issued for building three refineries, he added.
The refineries will be fed with 40,000-150,000 barrels of gas condensates per day, he noted.
Iran's petrochemical exports have declined by eight to 15 per cent in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year which began March 21, ILNA quoted the chairman of the union of Iranian exporters of oil derivatives, Hassan Khosrojerdi, as saying on Sunday.
Considering the positive atmosphere after the Iran-5+1 talks in Geneva, it is expected that a money transfer for petrochemical exports will be facilitated, he added.
He expressed the hope that petrochemical exports would rise afterwards.
Iran exported 14.4 million tons of petrochemical products worth 10.1 billion dollars in the previous calendar year ended March 20.
The figure shows a 32 and 33 per cent increase in terms of weight and value respectively compared to its preceding year, the Mehr News Agency reported.
The United States and Western powers have imposed a series of economic sanctions aimed at pressuring Iran into halting its uranium enrichment plan.
Despite the sanctions, Iranian petrochemical products are being exported even to European countries, former National Iranian Petrochemical Company spokesperson Abdolhossein Bayat said in August.
Bayat said during the past eight years, the country's annual petrochemical output has increased by 38 million tons, he added.
The output will surpass 75 million tons by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2014), he noted.