Hussein Garousi, a member of the industry and mines committee of the parliament, told NIPNA that completion of the value chain has many benefits for the country's economy, adding that developing downstream industries in Iran can bring massive income to the country besides creating non-oil income resources.
The MP said the value of a processed barrel of oil into various petrochemical products is clearly higher than a barrel of crude oil and this processing can be only done by completing the petrochemical value chain.
Currently, there are 67 semi-finished projects underway that their completion would raise the annual production of petrochemicals to 120 million tons in Iran.
The country plans to boost annual petrochemical production capacity to 180 million tons from around 60 million tons currently.
Once the semi-finished petrochemical projects are completed and a number of planned petrochemical units come on stream, the country’s petrochemical output will be increased to 180 million tons per year.