A senior Iranian energy official said that the country’s petrochemical complexes achieved a 6 percent rise in production in the first two months of the current Iranian year (started on March 20, 2020) compared to the corresponding period in the last year.
Iran's petrochemical industry eyes a production leap this year due to the existing capacities and ongoing measures, Director of Production Control at Iran's National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Seyed Jalal Mir Hashemi said adding that new projects are planned to come online and idle capacities of certain facilities will be tapped in order to optimize operations.
According to spokesman of Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union the country’s export of petrochemical products witnessed a 5 percent rise in the first 10 month of the last Iranian year (March 21, 2019-January 20, 2020) as compared to the corresponding period in the previous year.
Launch of new petrochemical units is the main reason for export increase, Seyed Hamid Hosseini said.
Iran may be affected severely by the coronavirus as a major part of Iran’s petrochemical products is exported to neighboring countries, he said.
Iran’s petrochemical products are mainly exported to two neighboring countries of Turkey and Iraq.
Output was also planned to increase to 100 million metric tons per year with the completion of 27 petrochemical projects across Iran in the next two years.
The United States hit Iran’s largest petrochemical group, Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC), in June 2019 with sanctions but exports of petrochemical products continue from other plants in the country.
The petrochemical exports have served as a main component of Iran's foreign currency income since the United States imposed its sanctions on the country's crude exports in November 2018. Government estimates suggest that Iran’s petrochemicals sector is generating around $12 billion per year in export revenues.
Accordingly, the current total revenue, including the domestic sale, stand at around $17 billion per year and is estimated to reach $25 billion by 2021.
The sector’s annual output was 65 million tons in 2019 witnessing a 20 percent rise in six years. Production is projected to exceed 80 million tons in 2021.