Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.22
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: A number of European and US firms are ready to invest in Iran's petrochemical projects, said Abbas Sheri-Moqaddam, the Iranian deputy oil minister.
"We asked the European companies how did you embarked on negotiating with us while you have US partners? They replied us that the US partners consented to negotiate," Iran's Mehr news agency quoted Sheri-Moqaddam as saying on April 22.
US companies have not directly put in requests, he added.
Companies from Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy have taken the lead to return to the Iranian market, he noted.
However, all of the foreign companies have referred to the lifting of sanctions as a prerequisite for resuming activity in Iran, the official said.
Sheri-Moqaddam said on April 13 that some $30 billion of investment opportunities in Iran's petrochemical sector have been identified, which will be certainly welcomed by European and Asian investors if the sanctions against the country are lifted.
Mohammad Hossein Peivandi, deputy director of the National Iranian Petrochemical Company, said on March 7 that Iran plans to triple its petrochemical output by the next 10 years.
He added that the country's petrochemical output will be increased to 180 million metric tons if the required financial resources are provided.
The roadmap for the development of the petrochemical industry has envisaged as much as $35 billion investment, he said, adding that Iran's petrochemical sales have grown by 36 folds over the past 25 years.