IRAN: Iran to double petchem production capacity

An official of the National Petrochemical Co. (NPC) has announced that the country's petrochemical production capacity will become two-fold.

Addressing a conference on ‘emerging trends in energy conservation’, NPC Director of Planning Hamid Reza Rostami said Persian Gulf littoral states are eagerly seeking to expand knowledge-based firms in petrochemical industry by making specialized investments in the sector; “these states have made several billions of dollars investments in the field.”

Rostami noted that the development of petrochemical industry in the 60s marked the first leap of the sector in the Middle East as well as in Iran asserting “the operational capacity of Iranian petrochemical plants will reach 60 million tons by the end of the current Iranian calendar year while the figure will mount to 130 million tons by the end the country’s sixth five-year Development Plan.”

Pointing to the production of about 50 distinct petrochemical products in Iran, the official stated “following the first leap, the evolution of manufacturing, engineering and operations is successfully taking place.” Rostami referred to the outcomes of parts production and reverse engineering on the part of domestic companies stressing “Iranian experts are currently capable of producing complex components for the petrochemical industry.”

NPO director of planning said both academic and industrial sectors need to look into the matter; “the research and industry sector is in dire need of a change of attitudes.”

Source: Mehr News Agency (MNA), Tehran; 24 Feb 2016
(Syed Rashid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan)