Omid Shakeri spoke today (Saturday, October 10) at a brainstorming session between the acting oil minister and NPC's managing director and senior executives, held at the company's headquarters. He stressed that the Seventh Development Plan's goals center on developing the petrochemical value chain. He said the industry produced more than 75 million tons of products in 1404, against an installed annual capacity of over 101 million tons.

Shakeri put the value of petrochemical output in 1404 at more than $22 billion. Of this, $12 billion was exported and more than $10 billion was sold domestically.

The petrochemical industry's role in curbing crude sales

Pointing to the industry's considerable capacity to attract capital, the NPC chief said $91.6 billion had been invested by the end of 1404, which plays a major part in preventing the sale of raw materials and in generating foreign-currency earnings.

Shakeri noted that petrochemicals accounted for less than 10 percent of the country's gas consumption in 1404, yet generated $22 billion in added value.

Referring to the feedstock supply limits the industry faces in winter, he said petrochemicals must move into upstream development to survive and secure stable feedstock, just as it now has many associated-gas gathering projects on its agenda.

Plan to add roughly 15m tons of capacity by the end of the Seventh Plan

Under the Seventh Development Plan, the NPC chief said, installed petrochemical capacity is due to reach about 111 million tons per year, which means roughly 15 million tons will be added.

Highlighting the industry's strong effect on job creation, Shakeri said that, counting just one plant, the petrochemical sector provided direct jobs for 148,000 people in 1403 and indirect jobs for 1,215,000.

He noted that the industry spent nearly 2 trillion tomans on social responsibility programs in 1403. On the president's instruction, all of this year's social responsibility funding from the sector will go toward expanding e-learning in schools.

The NPC managing director described crisis management in the petrochemical industry during the 12-day and 40-day imposed wars as satisfactory. He said reconstruction of damaged facilities is progressing well, and 60 percent of the lost capacity has already returned to production.