Compiled by Ghanbar Naderi
According to the head of American CMAI Company, Persian Gulf is the new hub of petrochemical products in the world.
Speaking at the Eighth Iran's Petrochemical Forum in Tehran, Gary Adams noted that in the past, the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana were considered as the petrochemical hub, indicating that the Persian Gulf has turned into a new focal point of petrochemical products.
Referring to changes in international markets, he noted that some other opportunities should be created in the world in this respect.
Given the soaring oil prices, new capacities should be established in different fields of petrochemical industry, he underlined. "In the next 25 years, regional states will have the lion's share of the world's petrochemical products," Adams anticipated.
According to Fars News Agency, the Eighth Iran's Petrochemical Forum was inaugurated in Tehran on Saturday by Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari.
Representatives from 118 Iranian companies as well as over 76 foreign companies from 27 countries participated in the two-day gathering.
Participants of the international conference discussed present and future challenges for Iran and world's energy sector and the petrochemical industry.
The role of refining in petrochemical industry, prospects of the industry as well as technologies related to petrochemical industry were among other major topics discussed in the forum.
Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States were represented in the forum.
The forum comes at a point when the projects planned by the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) during 2002-2007 have been completed and are in the process of being brought on stream, heralding a watershed development, not only for the Iranian petrochemical sector, but for the global petrochemical industry in terms of utilization of potentials and capacities.
The current year is seen as a crucial period for Iran in terms of growth in the volume of petrochemical products and presence in international markets as well as production of downstream petrochemical products.
The NPC is determined to achieve 35 million tons of gross output, with plans to sell 25 million tons of it, while consuming the remaining in its own production units.
Given the current international prices of petrochemicals, the value of the company's petrochemical output is expected to amount to $12 billion, of which $7 billion is estimated to come from exports.
The forum opened a window of opportunity for foreign firms to learn more about Iran's petrochemical industry, its comparative and competitive advantages as well as the investment opportunities it offers to foreign investors.
© Iran Daily 2008
