Morteza Shahmirzaei, during an interview on the television program
"Tehran 20," discussed Iran's role as a global exporter of catalysts
and highlighted the forthcoming review of the import of petrochemical catalysts
during the Thirteenth Government's term. He emphasized that the Thirteenth
Government has undertaken comprehensive assessments of the petrochemical
industry's plans in various sectors, in line with the government's policies, to
expedite progress toward completing the value chain.
Shahmirzaei noted that during the Thirteenth Government's tenure, the
petrochemical industry in Iran has focused on the directives of the Supreme
Leader to avoid raw material exports and generate high added value by producing
final products.
The CEO of the National Petrochemical Company continued by explaining
that as a result of these assessments, 21 investment packages have been
identified in the value chain, and they have been introduced to potential
investors. Petrochemical holdings have been given priority based on the
available feedstock for planned projects.
Shahmirzaei identified one of the major challenges in the field of value
chain product production as technical knowledge and stated that the National
Petrochemical Company has implemented an intensive program to localize
technologies and industrial catalysts through the Petrochemical Research and
Technology Company.
He also mentioned the update of the comprehensive catalyst document and
added that Iran has joined the ranks of catalyst exporters, with several
countries purchasing Iranian catalysts.
The Deputy Minister of Oil stressed that the Thirteenth Government's oil
industry policy is to trust domestic producers and knowledge-based companies.
In this regard, a self-sufficiency center for the petrochemical industry has
been established within the National Petrochemical Company to monitor and
support domestic producers.
Shahmirzaei also addressed the issue of revenue generation in the
petrochemical industry, stating that in the past year, the petrochemical sector
had more than $16 billion in exports, with approximately $14.5 billion provided
through the NIMA system as petrochemical industry currency for supply and
demand market equilibrium.
He continued, highlighting the tremendous growth in Iran's petrochemical
industry since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution. Initially, only a
handful of products were produced in six production complexes, but today, the
installed capacity of the petrochemical industry in Iran has exceeded 92
million tons.
The CEO of the National Petrochemical Company concluded by emphasizing
that Iran's achievements in the petrochemical industry are astonishing,
especially considering the sanctions imposed on the country. He described the
seventeenth Iran Plast International Exhibition as a significant event for
showcasing Iran's petrochemical industry capabilities.
He also highlighted the entire international Tehran exhibition space
being allocated to the 17th Iran Plast Exhibition and noted that
this year's exhibition featured the participation of 210 foreign companies,
marking a twenty-fold increase compared to the previous year.