Morteza Shahmirzaei, who made the remarks in the National Oil and Gas Forum in the Russian capital Moscow on Tuesday, added Iran’s petrochemical production capacity surpassed 95 million tons in the previous year.

“Having rich oil and gas reserves, Iran has held a special and top position in the world’s energy map since long ago,” said the official.

He called Iran the anchor of stability and security in the region and continued, “Given its long coastlines from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean, as the extremely important waterway and means of transporting oil, gas condensates, liquefied petroleum gas, petrochemicals, and other products, Iran is playing a significant role.”

The deputy oil minister said Iran’s petrochemical sector is ready to export its technical and engineering services to the world and cooperate with foreign companies in the fields of production and equipment.

Pointing to the variety of Iran’s petrochemical basket, more than 550 grades, Shahmirzaei said Iran and like-minded countries, including Russia and the Central Asian states, have favorable cooperation and made investments in the developing hubs, particularly in Mahshahr, Chabahar, and Jask.

According to the CEO of NPC, Iran is now producing 97 percent of catalysts needed by the oil, gas, refining, and petrochemical industries.

The official expressed Iran’s readiness to cooperate with neighboring and like-minded countries in the areas of designing, commissioning, exploiting, overhauling, maintaining, and producing different types of catalysts.

Iran has become completely self-sufficient in acquiring the technical know-how of producing ammonia, olefin, ethane, ethylene, converting gas to methanol, and mastering other processes, Shahmirzaei concluded.

In addition to NPC CEO Shahmirzaei’s presence, Iran’s Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali and Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorkin attended the forum.

The forum is held annually at Expocentre Fairgrounds in conjunction with the largest international exhibition Neftegaz.