Hamidreza Khalili said assigning pricing arbitration for utility services to the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) can help reduce uncertainty and create relative stability for petrochemical companies by clarifying final prices. He said such stability enables better cost management, improves cash-flow predictability and supports more accurate investment and business decisions.

Khalili said a long-running dispute in this area, which had previously reached higher judicial levels, was resolved through industry-based, expert arbitration. He added that relying on specialized mechanisms to address such disputes can serve as an effective alternative to lengthy and costly court proceedings and help ease tensions in the business environment.

Emphasizing the role of NPC as the industry’s specialized body, Khalili said referring disputes to an institution familiar with the technical, economic and market structure of the petrochemical sector can lead to more realistic decisions aligned with companies’ operational conditions. He said maintaining this approach, provided expert standards and professional independence are upheld, can improve interaction among industry stakeholders.

Khalili said regulatory stability and predictability remain among investors’ main concerns, adding that resolving disputes through mutually accepted arbitration sends a clear signal to capital markets that intra-industry issues can be managed within a transparent and specialized framework. Such an approach, he said, helps prevent prolonged disruptions and escalating disputes while enabling medium- and long-term planning.

He described the move as a foundation for wider use of specialized arbitration, stressing that the success of the model depends on decisions being grounded in market realities, technical and economic considerations, and strict impartiality. Under those conditions, he said, concerns among industry participants are likely to ease over time.