Baku, Azerbaijan, May 10
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Salman Farsi Petrochemical Complex, costing €200 million, will be established in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province.
The Exports Development Bank of Iran will use €200 million worth assets of the National Development Fund to establish the petrochemical complex, Iran's IRIB news agencyreported on May 10.
The project will create as many as 500 jobs in the first phase, but the number will increase to 4,000 in the next phases.
The complex will be inaugurated by March 2016. It is projected to produce 450,000 tonnes of propylene per year.
Iran is expected to export $14 billion worth of petrochemicals by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2015).
Hossein Shahriari, deputy director of the National Petrochemical Company, said that the country's total petrochemical production will also reach 51 million tonnes, Iran's SHANA News Agency reported on May 7.
He added that the value of Iran's total output is expected to reach $35 billion.
Iran's petrochemical exports failed to show a significant increase in recent months despite the fact that Western countries suspended the prohibition on the import, purchase or transport of the Islamic Republic's petrochemical products and related services since January.
Iran's petrochemical exports surpassed $10.723 billion during the last Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20), which indicates an increase by only 1.01 percent compared to the preceding year, the country's customs administration reported on April 7.
The total volume of exported petrochemicals in the last year stood at 14.5 million tonnes which is four percent less than the preceding year.