Baku, Azerbaijan, May 21
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Chinese financiers will invest in 7 petrochemical projects in Iran.
China will inject investments into Lordegan, Sabalan, Sadaf, and four other petrochemical projects, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on May 21.
In particular, €470 million will be invested into construction of the Lordegan Petrochemical Complex, southwest of Iran.
Sabalan petrochemical complex is projected to produce 1.65 million tons of methanol per year, and Sadaf petrochemical complex is projected to produce 100,000 tons of Extended Styrene Butadiene Rubber (ESBR) per year which is used in tire industry.
In addition, the Chinese investors have pledged to finance Bushehr, Hengam, and Gachsaran petrochemical projects, all located in southwest of the country.
Chinese investors have expedited the process of financing some Iranian petrochemical projects after Iran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) signed an interim agreement over Tehran's nuclear program in Geneva on November 24, 2013.
Some $7-8 billion is forecast to be invested by the Chinese investors in petrochemical projects in Iran.
On February 17, the National Iranian Petrochemical Company's managing director Abbas Sheri Moqaddam said Iran needs $31 billion to inaugurate 60 semi-finished petrochemical projects.
To date, just $5 billion is estimated to be spent in the projects, the Mehr News Agency quoted Moqaddam as saying.
Once the projects come on stream, they will increase the country's annual petrochemical output by 55 million tons, he said, adding that $74 billion is needed to expand the national petrochemical industry in the next 8-10 years.
Iran's Oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said in September 2013 that the value of Iran's annual petrochemical output may reach $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 at the time.