Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 17
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
BASF, a leading petrochemical producer, headquartered in Germany, is eyeing a 6 billion euro deal with Iran for cooperation in the construction of a large petrochemical plant in the Islamic Republic, an Iranian official said.
Parviz Sahafzadeh, deputy head of Iran's Petrochemical Employers Association, has said that BASF is expected to construct a petrochemical plant in the second phase of Assaluyeh petrochemical zone, Mehr news agency reported.
The official further added that a part of the products of the petrochemical plant will be exported to foreign countries.
Earlier in February, BASF refused to confirm or deny reports on the company's plans for involving in Iran business, describing the reports as "rumor".
Iranian officials have also announced an agreement reached with France's TOTAL company for developing the country's petrochemical industry.
Iran currently produces $20 billion worth of petrochemicals per year, meanwhile the oil ministry plans to double the figure by 2021.
Petrochemical plants in Iran had to work below the actual production capacity due to the shortage of natural gas as feedstock, old production units and the sanctions, which has caused a decline in exports.
The country's petrochemical output capacity currently stands at 61 million tons. The Islamic Republic hopes to bring this capacity to 120 million tons by 2020 and 180 million tons by 2025.
Iran's petrochemical exports reached 19 million tons, worth $9.5 billion in the last fiscal year (ended March 20).
Over 46 million tons of petrochemical products were produced in the country in last fiscal year, 2.5 million tons more year on year.