Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.27
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran's petrochemical production rose 5 percent in the first half of the current year compared to the previous year.
National Iranian Petrochemical Company's production control manager Ali-Mohammad Bassaqzadeh said the petrochemical output has met the domestic market's need and has been exported as well, Iran's Shana news agency reported on September 27.
However, he did not specify the volume of the petrochemical output.
Iran's current calendar year began on March 21.
In February, 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 Sheri Moqaddam as saying.
Once the projects come on stream, they will increase the country's annual petrochemical output by 55 million metric tons, he said, adding that $74 billion is required to expand the national petrochemical industry in the next 8-10 years.
"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, hoping 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.
"In the second surge, the figure will reach $40 billion," he added.