Press TV- Iran says it expects to sign an agreement with global energy giant Royal/Dutch Shell in the near future over a key petrochemical project.

Rahim Sharif Mousavi, the managing director of Maroun Petrochemical Company, told the domestic media that talks with Royal/Dutch Shell was likely to end within the next few weeks.

Sharif Mousavi emphasized that the agreement with the company involved providing engineering services for production of ethylene oxide.

The official added that talks over the same scope were also progressing well with two Italian engineering companies including Maire Technimont.� He emphasized that the discussions to that effect were also close to a final agreement.

�It is likely that the engineering contract with Royal/Dutch Shell would be finalized within the next weeks,� Sharif Mousavi said.� �It would be then that we would witness the start of work over the development of new projects in Maroun Petrochemical Company�.

The National Petrochemical Company of Iran (NPC) announced last year that it had signed a basic agreement with Royal/Dutch Shell over the development of several joint petrochemical projects.

This followed an announcement by NPC chief Marzieh Shahdaei that her company had serious plans to increase production of petrochemicals to 160 million tons per year by 2025 from the current volume of 60 million tons per year.

Royal/Dutch Shell was involved in the development of Iran�s Soroush and Norouz oil fields in Persian Gulf waters.� It was also planning to develop a gas liquefaction project called Persian LNG in Iran�s South Pars energy zone. However, it later cancelled its plans to that effect as a result of the sanctions.