Iran’s petrochemical industry will require $24 billion in investment to meet its expansion targets under the country’s seventh development plan, a senior oil ministry official said on Tuesday.
Afshin Gholamalipour, special assistant to the deputy oil minister for petrochemicals, told the official IRNA news agency that the sector’s nominal production capacity reached 96.6 million tonnes in the fiscal year to March 2025, with 76 complexes producing a range of products from methanol to polymers and aromatics.
He said actual output totalled about 66 million tonnes, with around $11 billion worth sold domestically and close to $13 billion exported. The seventh plan aims to raise nominal capacity to 131.5 million tonnes, which will require innovative financing models, he added.
Feedstock for the sector comes mainly from oil and gas refineries, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and gas fields, equivalent to about 1.2 million barrels of crude oil per day, Gholamalipour said.