Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 5
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran's annual petrochemical production will hit 129 million tons by the end of the sixth five-year national development plan (2021).
Hamid-Reza Rostami, director for planning at the National Petrochemical Company of Iran, said that annual petrochemical output hit 51 million tons by 2010 and the figure will rise to 62 million tons by the end of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 2016), Iran's IRNA news agency reported Oct. 5.
The value of petrochemical products will hit $40 billion by 2021, he added.
Currently, 123 petrochemical projects are being implemented by government and private sectors, he said, predicting that $7 billion could be invested in the petrochemical sector annually.
He went on to say that 14 petrochemical projects would be implemented by the end of the next Iranian fiscal year (March 2017).
Iran's petrochemical output hit 44.4 million tons in the past Iranian fiscal year (ended on March 20), 10 percent more year-on-year.
The country's actual production capacity is around 60 million tons, but the shortage of natural gas as feedstock, old production units, and the problem of sanctions, which has dropped exports, have caused petrochemical complexes to work at lower capacities.
The country produced 19.7 million tons of petrochemical products in the first five months of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21-Aug. 22).
Edited by CN