TEHRAN- Iran plans to increase its annual petrochemical production by 900,000 tons by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2016), according to an official at Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC).

Marzieh Shahdaie, the director for projects at NPC, said the increase will be achieved through putting three petrochemical units namely Mahabad, Kordestan and Lorestan Complexes into operation in the west of the country, the Shana News Agency reported on Sunday.

The official said there are currently 60 semi-finished petrochemical projects in Iran; adding that $30 billion is required to complete them.

The country’s annual petrochemical output will be doubled to 120 million tons when the semi-finished petrochemical projects come on stream, she added.

On April 13, NPC Managing Director Abbas She’ri Moqaddam said some $30 billion of investment opportunities have been identified in Iran’s petrochemical sector, which will be certainly welcomed by European and Asian investors if the sanctions against the country are lifted. 

A line of credit has been opened for building four petrochemical plants in the country, namely the Masjed Soleiman plant, the Sabalan plant, the Lordegan plant, and the Bushehr plant, he added. 

MA