Speaking to reporters on Monday, Behzad Mohammadi said sanctions were nothing new to Iran’s petrochemical industry, adding the sector had been subject to the bans since 2013.

“The imposed sanctions on the petrochemical industry would not influence our production and exports much and we are focused on developing the sector disregarding the sanctions,” the official said.

He said NPC had been successful to materialize over 90 percent of its revenue generation plan for the country.

Mohammadi further stated that Kaveh, Bushehr and Ilam Olefin projects would become operational this calendar year, which began on March 21, adding 5 million tons to the country’s petrochemical production capacity.

Moreover, 15 other petrochemical projects are expected to become operational by the end of the next Iranian calendar year to March 2020, the official added.

Regarding catalyst supply in the sector, “we have no trouble both for production and supply of catalysts and the sanctions imposed by the US on the petrochemical industry only serve as mere political theatrics rather than impacting the sector.”