Azerbaijan, Baku, May 10/Trend M. Moezzi
Up to 21 per cent of Iran's petrochemical capacity is unused because facilities don't have access to fuel and when there is fuel its price can be prohibitive.
Last year, there were 9.7 million tonnes of unused capacity in Iran, a top official told the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA). That's equal to what would be produced by four or five big petrochemical facilities, said Ali Yazdani, the managing director of Iran Petrochemical Special Economic Zone (PETZONE).
Fuel shortages are less severe in major facilities like Arak, Esfahan or Shiraz where about six per cent of capacity is unused. However other areas don't fare as well.
In Assaluyeh, only 82 per cent of petrochemical production capacities are used. In Mahshahr 21 percent of capacity sits empty. The shortages don't have anything to do with the international sanctions imposed against Iran and its oil industry, said the PETZONE's director.
Mr. Yazdani said Iran's national oil and gas companies have to work with the petrochemical industry to resolve these problems. With petrochemicals accounting for up to half of Iran's non-petroleum exports, failure to get fuel to facilities isn't appropriate.
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