Tehran, IRNA – Iranian Petroleum Minister Javad Owji announced that the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi has signed contracts worth more than 4.5 billion dollars to develop oil and gas fields since the inauguration in August, 2021.
Attending the opening ceremony of the 15th Iran Plast International Exhibition in Tehran on Monday, Owji emphasized that development of the petrochemical industry is one of achievements of the Islamic Revolution, noting that simultaneous with the victory of the Revolution, the petrochemical industry in Iran was merely producing chemical fertilizers, but the industry is now producing various products.
Owji stipulated that since the beginning of the current administration, the Oil Ministry has given importance to feeding petrochemical complexes; therefore, it signed 10 contracts with banks, holding companies and foreign firms in order to invest over 4.5 billion dollars in developing oil and gas fields.
The ministry has also inked 12 contracts to pave the way for constructing petro-refineries in Iran in order to guarantee energy security.
The oil minister stated that Iran ranks first in terms of possessing Hydrocarbon reservoirs, including 153 billion barrels of extractable crude oil, as well as 33 billion cubic meters of extractable gas.
In the beginning of the Islamic Revolution, there was only one gas refinery in Iran, he said, adding that the gas refining capacity in the country has reached one billion cubic meters per day.
Some 95 percent of household consumers enjoy natural gas, the minister noted, adding that gas distribution in industrial and power plant sectors has witnessed appropriate development.
Pointing to the fact that demand for petrochemical products is much higher than request for oil products, he noted that the growth of demand for petrochemical industry is around 8 to 10 percent.
In line with Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s guidelines on upgrading oil industry on the basis of knowledge-based firms, Owji said that the petrochemical industry is pioneer in this regard.
As to cruel US-imposed sanctions on Iran, he said that the petrochemical industry has been least affected by the embargo, and that the industry brought about 10 billion dollars for the country in the current Iranian year (started March 21, 2021).
The 15th Iran Plast International Exhibition is held at Tehran International Exhibition Center on February 7-10.
Almost 450 Iranian and foreign companies attend the event. Some 300 merchants from countries such as Germany, China, Brazil, Italy and Turkey take part in the exhibition.
Iran’s 68 petrochemical complexes produce 65 million tons, including 30 million tons for export, 10 million tons for domestic consumption and 25 million tons for feeding complexes annually.
Source: Islamic Republic News Agency – IRNA
