Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.1
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: The main priority of Iran's petrochemical sector for cooperating with European and American companies is investment attraction.
National Iranian Petrochemical Company's Managing Director Abbas Sheri Moqaddam said the company has so far negotiated with delegations from Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France, India, South Korea, and Japan to invest in the country's petrochemical sector, IRNA news agency reported September 1.
Foreign companies are willing to invest in and transfer technology to the country, he noted.
The recent agreement with the P5+1 group has encouraged foreign companies to begin talks to reenter the Iranian market, he said.
"We have even negotiated with a European company, which had an American partner," he added.
The value of Iran's petrochemical exports is forecast to rise by 20-25 percent during 1-1.5 years after the West-led sanctions are lifted from the country, according to Iran's Petrochemical Commercial Company's Managing Director Mehdi Sharifi Niknafs. Niknafs said August 17 that lifting of sanctions will remove banking, insurance and transportation barriers as well as brokers from Iran's petrochemical exports which will reduce export costs noticeably.
The official said sanctions removal will also bring foreign finance to expedite completion of Iran's semi-finished petrochemical projects.
Based on official statistics, Iran has a capacity to produce 60 million metric tons of petrochemicals per year. The country's annual petrochemical export is currently about 17 million tons.
Edited by CN
