TEHRAN August 01 (Shana)--Iranian petrochemical plants processed more than 15.5 million tons of petrochemicals during the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year which started on March 21.

Ali Mohammad Bosaqzadeh, director of production control at National Petrochemical Company (NPC), said the figure shows a mere 4% rise year-on-year.

He said production from petrochemical plants at Pars Special Economic Energy Zones (PSEEZ) rose by 8% during the period from a year ago while output from the plants at Mahshahr and other regions rose by 2% and 4% respectively.

There are more than 60 half-finished petrochemical projects in Iran waiting to be funded for completion, he said, adding that the projects have progressed from 10 to 90%.
Once completed, the projects will add 60 million tons of petrochemical annually to Iran's production capacity which stands at 60mt currently.

The projects are to be fed by the natural gas recovered from various phases of the supergiant South Pars gas filed which Iran shares with Persian Gulf Arab state Qatar.

By SHANA