Petrochemical industry is now the new field of competition between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Iranian petrochemical industry has numerous advantages. Experts maintain that Iran’s petrochemical industry will soon come into global spotlight.
Iran’s petrochemical industry is appealing to foreign investors in view of the huge storage facilities and abundant feedstock, easy access to water resources and its location along major marine transportation routes. These can turn the country into a major petrochemical hub in the near future.
Iran is among the few countries having all the equipment, capacities and resources to ensure greater profitability of its petrochemical industry.
Although Iran began developing the industry much later than its archrival, with the expansion of the South Pars Gas Field and extraction of more gas, it managed to supply more feedstock to petrochemical plants and make excellent headway in the industry.
Currently, Saudi Arabia ranks first in the Middle East in terms of petrochemical output.
Experts believe that Saudi Arabia’s lack of independent gas reserves gives Iran an edge in view of its numerous kinds of feedstock including gas condensates, natural gas and naphta which can help the country significantly boost petrochemical production.
Mohammad-Hossein Peyvandi, the deputy head of the National Petrochemical Company, said in case sufficient fund is available, Iran’s petrochemical output will amount to 180 million tons per annum in 10 years.
‘Therefore, by 2025, Iran will be able to replace Saudi Arabia and become the biggest producer of petrochemicals in the Middle East.’
He added in view of Iran’s access to abundant feedstock, new plans have been drawn up in the framework of the industry’s road map to increase petrochemical production capacity by 60 million tons by investing $35 billion.
Peyvandi said a portion of the projects pertain to boosting propylene output capacity.
A large number of European companies are keen on expanding cooperation with Iran’s petrochemical industry but the Western sanctions create obstacle to further promoting favorable relations in this respect.
There are 60 incomplete petrochemical projects in Iran which have shown a progress of up to 90 percent. With the completion of these projects, petrochemical output will reach 120 million tons yearly.
Also, with the execution of 36 newly designed petrochemical projects which will require $41 billion in investment, the country’s production capacity will exceed 180 million tons per annum.