Baku, Azerbaijan, May 17
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran will likely build an oil refinery in African country of Sierra Leone.
National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company's Deputy Director Shahrokh Khosravani said the country is holding serious talks with some African countries, especially with Sierra Leone, to build oil refineries in these countries, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on May 17.
"However, currently Iran is not implementing any oil projects overseas," he noted.
He also said that negotiations are underway with a number of Asian countries, including Indonesia.
In May 2013, Hassan Khosrojerdi, chairman of the union of Iranian exporters of oil derivatives, announced that Iran will establish six oil refineries in Africa.
"Memorandums of understanding have been signed with six African countries and preliminary measures have been taken for finding appropriate places to establish the refineries," he added.
He added that the refineries are projected to have 20,000 barrels per day of capacity.
The value of Iran's annual petrochemical output may double to $40 billion, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said in September 2013.
"For the time being, the value of domestic petrochemical products per year is about $20 billion," he said, expressing hope that the figure would increase to $40 billion.
"Between 1996 and 2006, the first surge in the value of petrochemical output occurred, so that the annual production increased from $1 billion to $20 billion," IRNA quoted Zanganeh as saying.
He added that in the second surge the figure will reach $40 billion.