Launching 10 new petrochemical units (including the inaugurated Mehr Petrochemical Complex) will add some 8.8 million tons to Iran's petrochemical production capacity by the end of the current calendar year (March 20, 2010), the Iranian oil minister said here on Tuesday.
The Mehr News Agency quoted Gholam-Hossein Nozari as saying that, "Through $4.3 billion investment, the projects will come on stream which rise the country's production capacity up to some 39 million tons."
"The total value of sold products is estimated to hit $9.87 billion by the yearend," he said, adding that nearly 15.5 million tons of the output will be exported and some 12.5 million tons will be supplied to the domestic market.
Last (Iranian) year, the country''s petrochemical output amounted to 27 million tons, equaling 25 percent of the Middle East''s total production, Nozari said.
Iran to produce 12% of world's methanol
By putting Zagros Petrochemical Complex's second methanol unit into operation, Iran will reach the annual methanol production capacity of 6.05 million tons, 12 percent of the world's total capacity, the Zagros Petrochemical Company's managing director said here on Tuesday.
SHANA quoted Mehdi Hamidi as saying that the unit has the annual production capacity of 1.65 million tons.
Zagros Petrochemical Complex is the world's largest methanol production unit.