Iran exports 22.5m tons of petchem worth $12bn: official

A senior Iranian oil ministry official says exports of refined products derived from crude have topped 22.5 tons, generating an income of $12 billion a year for the country.

Behzad Mohammadi, who heads National Petrochemical Company of Iran (NPC), said on Monday that current volume of exports of refined products account for a third of Iran’s annual output.

“Some 56 petrochemical complexes are currently active in the country producing 66 million tons of various products,” Mohammadi told IRIB News, adding that more than half of Iran’s petchem output serves as feed to refineries and the rest is sold through domestic sale or exports.

The official said the total income generated from Iran’s refined products amounted to $17 billion a year, saying petchem exports continued to account for the bulk of Iran’s non-oil exports and a major source of income for the government at the time of American sanctions that have hampered crude sale.

PressTV-'Iran eyes $36b worth of petchem output by 2021'

Iran’s oil minister says the volume and value of petrochemicals output would significantly surge by 2021.

Mohammadi said refineries across Iran produce a total of 350 products relying on 285 technical fields of science and hiring over 108,000 people in direct employment, adding that proper expansion of the industry over the past years had helped it become more “sustainable” in the face of external pressure.

He said Iran eyes to increase output of petrochemicals by 50 percent to reach a target of 100 million tons a year by 2021, adding that would increase income derived from the sector to $25 billion.

The official said a total of 27 petrochemical projects would be completed in the next two years, including the Kaveh Petrochemicals, the world’s largest methanol production unit, whose construction is planned to finish until March 2020.

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