“The coming 15 months will represent a sensitive period for Irans petrochemical industries and our production will hit 40 million tons,” Mohammad Hassan Peyvandi said, adding that the Ministry of Petroleum should cooperate to that effect. He said Irans petrochemical sector registered a jump under the authority of Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh. “He was not working but he was praying!” “In the past eight years, we brought our ethylene production from 700,000 tons to 4.5 million tons, aromatics from 700,000 to 2.5 million tons and polymers form 560,000 to six million tons,” he said. Peyvandi said Irans petrochemical exports would reach 4.7 billion dollars, noting the figure was 1.2 billion dollars in 1997. Nematzadeh, former managing-director of NPC, has been named at head of the National Iranian Oil Distribution and Refining Company.