BASF, the world’s largest chemical producer, plans $6 billion of investment in Iran’s petrochemical sector, director of planning at the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Hamid Reza Rostami says. 

The German company will make the investment in Asaluyeh where Iran is carrying out its largest gas development project by tapping gas from the giant South Pars field in the Persian Gulf.

“BASF has decided to make direct investment in Iran, bringing in capital, technology, management and a guaranteed market for products which we welcome,” Rostami said on Monday.

The announcement came a day after Iran opened a petrochemical forum in Tehran, with Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh appealing to foreign companies to re-open their offices in the Islamic Republic.

BASF and industrial gases company Linde sent their executives with German Minister of Economy Sigmar Gabriel to Iran in July to discuss investment and transfer of technology.

The lifting of sanctions in the “next few days” will enable Iran to fulfill its 20-year vision plan, including its target to produce $70 billion of petrochemicals a year at current prices, Zangehen said on Sunday.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] Shazand Petrochemical Company in the central Iranian city of Arak[/caption]

NPC Managing Director Abbas Sheri Moqaddam said Iran’s petrochemical production will hit 70 million tonnes in the new Persian year which begins on March 20, 2016.

The products will be worth $27 billion at current prices, the official said.

Sheri Moqaddam said Iran plans to attract about $70 billion in foreign direct investment in its petrochemical sector by 2025.

Companies from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, Japan and even the US have indicated readiness to participate in Iran’s petrochemical projects, officials say.

Some Iranian companies are currently in the process of receiving funds from Germany and Spain and “negotiations with respective foreign parties have been finalized, pending official removal of sanctions”, NPC projects director Marzieh Shah-Daei said in October.

By Press TV