TEHRAN, April 4 (Shana) – Director of quality control at the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) said that its output was more than 46 million tons last year (ended March 19) up for 2.5 million tons compared to the preceding year.

Ali-Mohammad Bossaqzadeh told Shana that 19 million tons of the products were exported worth 9.5 billion dollars.

He hoped that NPC production and export will boost in the current year with the increased supply petchem units’ feedstock and launching of new plants.
Last December, he told Shana that NPC is ready to cooperate with foreign investors in order to develop the petrochemical industry.

He said Iran’s coastal lines including the Oman Sea basin are of the interest of foreign investors to develop petrochemical projects. “A major European firm is ready to invest 8 billion euros in a petrochemical chain,” he added but did not identify the company.

NPC hosted the Iran Petrochemical Forum (IPF 2015) on December 13-14 in Tehran in which some 97 foreign companies from 25 countries participated showing an increase of 120 percent compared to IPF2014.

More than 15,00 representatives from domestic and foreign firms including Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, and US are took part in the two-day event.

Participants in the IPF2015, one of the world’s most prestigious events representing the petrochemical industry, discussed the core issues that the industry is facing with the emphasis given to Iran.

It provided a platform where stakeholders and key players in the global petrochemical sector met to exchange knowledge and address the latest advancements and best practices which are capable of shaping the future of the industry.

Following the historic nuclear agreement, Iran used the event to unveil its post-sanctions projects and plans for further expanding the Iranian petrochemical output capacity from the current 60 million t/y to over 138 million t/y in 2020 and eventually to 180 million t/y by 2025 with an investment of over $80 billion.

NPC seeks to use Iran’s natural gas reserves as raw material to produce propylene and its derivatives to provide feed for the expansion of local downstream industries.

By SHANA