Mohammad Hassan Peyvandi said the country's ethane will become a serious rival for shale gas to Europe as it is much more economical for European customers to buy the product from the Middle East than adopt their structures for shale gas input.
He called for investment on the development and upgrading of petrochemical infrastructures in Iran's coastal areas near the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, and stated that the required feedstock of petrochemical plants should be provided as new plants are under way.
"I believe that expansion of infrastructures is crucial for the petrochemical industry which can only become possible through timely investments," said Peyvandi.
He further called on the private sector who primarily controls Iran's petrochemical industry to uplift its operational savvy to expand the industry.
Peyvandi referred to his recent visit from the OPEC headquarters in Vienna, and said that he relayed an NPC proposal to the organization concerning formation of a petrochemical sector in OPEC.
Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company (IPCC) exported 838 million dollars' worth of petrochemicals during the first four months of the current calendar year which started on March 21.
The exported products, weighing 831,000 tons, mainly included propane and butane.
Iran produced 40 million tons of petrochemicals in the last calendar year, with 9 billion dollars' worth of its products being exported.
The country plans to increase its petrochemical exports to 12 billion dollars this year.