He told the Iran Petrochemical Forum that Iran is to produce 10 million tons of methanol in five years. “Almost every six months, a project starts production,” he said.
Peyvandi said Iran’s petrochemical production capacity reached 60 million tons in 2013.
He acknowledged that Iran’s petrochemical sector faced hurdles in recent years due to international sanctions.
“We plan to speed up the development of petrochemical industry with a new approach,” said Peyvandi.
“Seven methanol projects are under way in South Pars with Chinese finance,” he said.
Peyvandi said Iran’s polyethylene production is to increase by one million tons by the end of 2015.
Iran expects to raise its annual petrochemical production capacity to 180 million tons as new projects are hoped to come on-stream, the head of National Petrochemical Company (NPC) said.
“With the completion of 60 unfinished projects remaining from the previous administrations and the implementation of 36 new methane-fed projects, [Iran’s] annual petrochemical production capacity will soar past 180 million tons,” Abbas Sheri-Moqaddam told IPF, a two-day event which opened in Tehran on Saturday.
Iran is determined to become the biggest petrochemical producer in the Middle East.
The country has significantly expanded the range and volume of its petrochemical production over the past few years, and the NPC has become the second largest producer and exporter of petrochemicals in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia.
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