TEHRAN- The managing director of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) said that a fourth step has been defined for the development of Iran’s petrochemical industry, in which the basket of petrochemical products will be noticeably diversified through 30 strategic projects.

Making the remarks in a press conference on Sunday, Behzad Mohammadi said that the mentioned 30 projects are defined based on the oil and gas feedstock and base products as well as investigating the status of domestic and international markets.

The official said that 90 types of petrochemical products are currently produced in the country, among them 18 types are polymers categorized in 333 grades.

Products diversity as one of the factors of sustainable development in this industry will reach 104 types in the Iranian calendar year 1404 (begins in March 2025), and 124 in the year 1406 (starts in March 2027), he added.

Mohammadi further said that about eight million tons of products were given to the downstream industries in the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19, 2020).

In terms of feedstock the petrochemical units received in the past year, the NPC managing director said last year 35 million tons of feedstock was received on a daily basis, which is equivalent to 800,000 barrels per day of oil.

This amount is planned to reach two million barrels in 1404 and 2.2 million barrels in 1406, he added.

In terms of production, the official said that there were 56 petrochemical complexes in the country in the past year, which has risen to 64 complexes this year.

About 30 percent of the petrochemical products are domestically used, while about 70 percent is exported, according to Mohammadi.

 Annual petchem income more than commitment obtained

Elsewhere in his remarks, the NPC managing director said that petrochemical income injected into the NIMA system both in the past year and in the current year has been more than the commitment to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI).

He also said that the amount of investment making in this industry will reach $80 billion by completing the projects defined in the second leap (Iranian year 1400), $92 billion by completing the projects defined in the third leap (Iranian year 1404), and $108 billion in the fourth step (year 1406).

Through completing the second and third leaps projects and the aforementioned strategic projects, Iran will achieve the annual production of 150 million tons, and the income of about $44 billion, Mohammadi further highlighted.

Golden year of petrochemical industry

The managing director of National Iranian Petrochemical Company went on to say that the current Iranian calendar year is the golden year of the petrochemical industry.

He said that 17 projects worth $11 billion were defined to be inaugurated in this year, of them nine ones have been already put into operation, adding that the eight remaining projects are supposed to be inaugurated by the yearend, although due to the coronavirus limitations some of them may be put into operation in early next year.

All the 17 projects being implemented the country’s annual petrochemical output will rise 25 million tons to 90 million tons, he noted.

 28 projects to come on stream in 3rd leap

Mohammadi then mentioned the third leap of the petrochemical industry and said 28 projects are planned to be implemented in the third leap of the country’s petrochemical industry.

These projects will boost the annual output to 133 million tons and bring an income of $35 billion, the official said.

The petrochemical industry is playing a crucial role in Iran's non-oil economy, so that based on official data petrochemical exports constitute the second-largest hard currency earner in Iran after crude oil. Petrochemical exports already make up nearly 33 percent of the country’s non-oil exports.