Iran’s petchem sector negotiating to open offices abroad 

TEHRAN – Iran’s petrochemical sector is negotiating with a number of countries including Spain and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)to open sales offices over there, according to an Iranian oil official. 

Iran’s Petrochemical Commercial Company’s Managing Director Mehdi Sharifi Niknaf said: “We are planning to regain our share in the world’s petrochemicals market,” the Shana News Agency reported on Saturday. 

Currently, there are 67 semi-finished projects underway that their completion would raise the annual production of petrochemicals to 120 million tons in the country, the official stated. 

Easing sanction on Iran is driving up petrochemical sales. As part of the nuclear deal reached with P5+1 group of countries on July, sanctions on 14 major Iranian petrochemical companies were suspended. 

Based on the official statistics, Iran has a capacity to produce 60 million tons of petrochemicals per year.  

Last year, National Iranian Petrochemical Company’s Managing Director Abbas She’ri Moqaddamsaid said Iran plans to boost annual petrochemical production capacity to 180 million tons from around 60 million tons currently.     

Once the semi-finished petrochemical projects are completed and a number of planned petrochemical units come on stream, the country’s petrochemical output will be increased to 180 million tons per year, he added.    

Also, on August 15, Sharifi Niknafs said the value of Iran’s petrochemical exports is forecast to rise by 20-25 percent during 1-1.5 year after the West-led sanctions are lifted from the country.