TEHRAN (PIN) – Jam and Arya Sasol petrochemical complexes with a 600 thousand ton polymer production capacity each would become operational by the end of current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2008), said the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) deputy Sunday.

Reza Afshin added the annual polymer output of the country would stand at five million tons in the first half of next Iranian year.
The official said when the semi-finished projects came on stream and the annual output soared to five million tons, the country would stop importing raw materials for rubber and plastic products.
Afshin added the permit for increasing the downstream industries capacity to 13 million tons had been issued.
According to the NPC official, Iran used about 5.2 million tons of different types of polymer products in the previous years, out of which 500 thousand tons was imported, 5.1 million tons was produced at home, and 500 thousand tons was smuggled.
Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said Arya Sasol Petrochemical Complex in southern Iran would be inaugurated in the presence of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in the near future.
Arya Sasol Petrochemical Complex (Olefin 9) has been established, with NPC and South African group Sasol holding 50 percent of shares each.
The complex is among the world’s biggest polymer projects, whose products will be mainly exported.
Construction operations of the complex started in a parcel of land with a 78.8 ha area in Pars Special Economic Energy Zone (PSEEZ) in 2002 and the project has made over 97 percent so far.
According to the NPC, the Vision Plan includes four five-year plans that started in 2005.
The country’s current petrochemical production capacity is 32 million tons and the figure is expected to touch 45 million tons by the end of the first five-year plan.
Based on the first plan, Iran invests 12.5 billion dollars in 24 petrochemical projects.
According to the statistic, the NPC produced about 15 million tons of products last year while its real output in 1991 stood at 4.3 million tons, showing that the company’s production had tripled within 15 years.
Iran held 0.9 percent share of the world’s total petrochemical output in 2005. The figure is predicted to touch 3.5 percent by the end of 2010.
During the past years, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, China, India, South Korea, Italy, Singapore, and Taiwan were the main target petrochemical markets for Iran, accounting for 86 and 80 percent of Iran’s export-bound products in terms of weight and value respectively.