[caption id="attachment_60683" align="alignright" width="201"] Head of Iran National Petrochemical Company Abbas Sheri-Moqaddam[/caption]

TEHRAN Feb 18(Shana)--Indian companies have expressed their readiness to invest in Iran’s petrochemical sector, the head of National Petrochemical Company said.

“Since Iran’s oil money remains frozen in Indian banks, this company plans to use this money for financing petrochemical projects in Iran,” Abbas Sheri-Moqaddam said.He said the administration of President Hassan Rouhani has managed to give assurances to foreign companies for investment in Iran.

“Foreign companies are also eager to see sanctions against Iran lifted as soon as possible,” he said, adding that foreign companies are not ready to pay penalties for their presence in sanctions-stricken Iran.

Sheri-Moqaddam said Iranian officials are making efforts to convince the world about the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran's annual petrochemical production capacity is expected to plateau at 100 million tons from the current 60 million tons by 2020 if Western governments ease their sanctions.

Iran hopes to see its petrochemical production capacity increase 1.3 million tons by next March which marks the end of Iran’s calendar year.

Iran produced 40 million tons of petrochemical products in the last calendar year, with $9 billion gained from exports. Iran predicts to obtain around $12 billion from petrochemical exports this calendar year.

Iran is determined to become the leading producer of petrochemicals in the Middle East.

The country has significantly expanded the range and volume of its petrochemical production over the past few years, and the NPC has become the second largest producer and exporter of petrochemicals in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia.

By SHANA