Iran petchem productions top 16mn tons

Iran has produced more than 16 million tons of petrochemical products in the first five months of the Iranian year (March 21 – August 21, 2010).

Iran exported 7.14 million tons of petrochemicals, worth $4.2 billion, and some 2.8 million tons of the produced petrochemicals were sold in domestic markets, according to a report published on the Oil Ministry’s official website SHANA.

Iran plans to produce 44 million tons of petrochemicals by the end of the current year.

The National Iranian Petrochemical Company and a Chinese consortium are completing talks on an agreement under which the Chinese side is to funnel some $1 billion into petrochemical projects in Iran.

Negotiations are also underway with several other countries for further development of Iran’s petrochemical industries.

Sixty-one petrochemical projects will come on stream in Iran during the Fifth National Development Plan (2010-2015), raising the country’s petrochemical output capacity to 100 million tons a year.

The construction of the petrochemical facilities requires a total of $43 billion in investment funds. Contracts have already been signed for the implementation of 28 of those projects.

An agreement has also been concluded with Iran’s Bank Melli on the issuance of some $1 billion worth of bonds.