The following is the full text of the interview Mr.Rashid Qanei gave to “Iran Petroleum”:

Would you please tell us about PGPDIC’s main projects?

We have currently prioritized five projects for operation: Lordegan Petro-Armand, Arghavan Gostar Ilam Petrochemical Plant, Sadaf Petrochemical Plant, solid flake plant and polyaluminium chloride (PAC) in Urmia. We expect them to come online in the second half of the next calendar year. Investment in the five projects totals $300 million, whose startup would add 381,000 tonnes to PGPDIC’s output capacity. Lordegan Petro-Armand which is the largest crystal melamine production facility in the country with a capacity of 30,000 tonnes is the top priority. It is complementary to the urea chain. This facility is fed with molten urea and liquid ammonia, which would be supplied by the Lordegan urea chemical fertilizer plant. We’ve purchased one of the best licenses in the world for this plant, which is expected to come online in the second half of the year. Arghavan Gostar Ilam Petrochemical Plant that converts the chemical and polymer-grade propylene produced at the Ilam Petrochemical Plant’s olefin unit to polypropylene is our second priority. Its capacity is 150,000 tonnes. Sadaf Petrochemical Plant, which would be the first E-SBR artificial tire manufacturing plant to supply feedstock to tire manufacturers is our third priority. It has capacity to produce 136,000 tonnes. The first unit of health-trade PAC with 45,000-tonne capacity is our fourth priority. It manufactures Arvand Petrochemical caustic soda to be supplied to PAC soda producers. PAC unit at Urmia Petrochemical Plant with capacity of 20,000 tonnes is our fifth priority. The plant is used in water and wastewater treatment. Currently, Iran is importing low-quality Chinese PAC. The Urmia plant would be supplying this substance at high quality. 

How much are PGPDIC’s current projects valued at?

The projects currently under way by PGPDIC are worth over $650 million. Half of these projects would come online by March 2024 and the rest up to March 2025. We believe that we would be earning $1-1.5 billion in revenue from these projects as of March 2025, which would be nearly twice the investment we’ve made.

Given the 13th administration’s willingness to expand cooperation with neighboring and friendly nations, have you received any proposals for cooperation?

So far, we have had several requests from neighboring countries. For example, the Indians wanted to have joint investment with us in the production of some products. We have also welcomed the suggestions of cooperation that have been presented and we are now in the first steps of negotiations. Considering that we are also looking for the development of our markets, joint cooperation can facilitate this for us.

Do these talks depend on the outcomes of Iran’s nuclear talks with six world powers in Vienna?   

None of our negotiations is conditional on the revival of the Vienna negotiations. Due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, many countries have problems in their fertilizer chain and fertilizer has become extremely scarce across the world, and they are very willing to have joint investment with us in the production of these products, so we are also interested in cooperation. We welcome foreign companies in this field. We hope to reach a final conclusion regarding joint cooperation with one of the neighboring countries by the end of this year.

Do you have any plans to build a joint factory in the neighboring countries?

At the moment we don't have a plan because our main goal is to create jobs and earn foreign currency in Iran, although we have received proposals from neighboring countries such as Turkey to build a unit there, we have not rejected this proposal, so as I mentioned, our first priority is to operate in Iran.

In what sectors will you cooperate with Latin American countries?

Latin American companies are more willing to cooperate with them in the field of major repairs and joint production. Of course, I must also say that these companies have announced during the trip of the CEO of Persian Gulf Holding to Latin America that they are ready to bring the entire capital to Iran, but Persian Gulf Holding does not have financial problems and is more willing to cooperate with foreign companies to develop its own markets.

What are the stages of implementing chemical parks now?

We have planned to create petrochemical parks in the southern coast of the country. Methanol Park is our most important park in the Parsian Special Economic Zone. With the construction of this park, we will create the value chain of methanol. This park has an area of ​​1,000 hectares and 60 projects are going to be implemented there. Currently, we have done the feasibility studies of these plans and we are looking for financial and executive partners. Based on the planning, we will provide 70% of the domestic resources and the remaining 30% with international finances.

Do you have any other plans apart from the Methanol Park?

Yes, we are currently studying 12 coastal areas in the south of the country, one of our fields of study is parks specializing in modern chemical fertilizers, which currently have an attractive market in the world. Even some of Iran's eastern neighboring countries, who were informed that we want to build a park in this field, have announced that they want to pre-purchase the products of these parks. Among other high-demand parks, I can mention the Park of Pharmaceutical Industries and Pharmaceutical Raw Materials, which will be an attractive market because we import at least one billion dollars of pharmaceutical raw materials annually. So, I suppose this market will be very attractive for Iran's petroleum and petrochemical industry. We have a market of at least $150 billion in the field of downstream industries in neighboring countries, and we hope that petrol will have a good share in the market of Iran's neighbors.

What approaches do you pursue in acquiring technology?

Our first approach is to nationalize licenses as much as possible. We designed a road map to indigenize licenses step by step and use internal licenses. Regarding the technologies that we do not currently have, we have negotiated with a number of neighboring countries so that we can use their licenses.

How many knowledge-based companies have you signed contracts with?

We have signed contracts with 700 knowledge-based companies in all sectors of PGPDIC and even Persian Gulf Holding, from the value chain to the parts we use.

Courtesy of Iran Petroleum

Negar sadeghi