Iran’s petrochemical sector has developed exponentially over the last 40 years and its speed of expansion has been twofold higher than the global average, managing director of the National Petrochemical Company said.
“NPC’s annual capacity to produce 3 tons of commodities in 1978 has now reached 90 million tons and it is still growing steadily,” said Morteza Shah-Mirzaei.
Globally, petrochemical production capacity almost doubles every 20 years, while Iran’s petrochemical production volume has increased by 100% per decade, he added.
The official noted that NPC’s annual output is expected to reach 200 million tons in the next 10 years. According to the official, NPC’s top priority is to complete the value chain of low value-added products, including methanol, because of which several initiatives are in different stages of construction across the country and are expected to become operational in the next five years.
Referring to Iran’s access to abundant hydrocarbon reserves, he added that close to 540 grades of chemical and petrochemical products are made in 67 petrochemical plants, most of which are located in the proximity of the Persian Gulf.
A number of energy projects in Iran are also in the second phase of development and as soon as they become operational, oil and gas output would register massive growth, the NPC chief said.
“Joining hands with other countries and drawing on the expertise of foreign companies will play a key role in developing Iran’s oil and gas sectors and augmenting its energy security.” Shah-Mirzaei noted that Iran extracts 1 billion cubic meters of gas per day and its crude oil production capacity is about 4 million bpd, some of which are used as feedstock in the petrochemical industry.
