The decision was made during President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 25th provincial visit.

The nongovernmental sector is to make the necessary studies on the project and the Ministry of Petroleum is responsible for supplying the feedstock of the complex.

The cabinet also approved that the ministry would allocate 300 billion rials (333.3 million dollars) to change the thickness of some 34 kilometers of gas transmission pipeline within three years.

Completion of gas supply projects in 675 villages of the province was among other ratifications of the government.

National Petrochemical Company (NPC) predicted that 35 petrochemical projects would come on stream by the end of Iranian calendar year 1393 (March 20, 2015).

Iran is the second largest petrochemical producer in the Persian Gulf littoral states, standing after Saudi Arabia, and will retain its position until 2010.

The inauguration of the projects in question by 2015 will considerably promote its status not only in the Persian Gulf region, but in the world.

Some parts of mentioned projects, including polyethylene, methanol, and olefin units are carried out in collaboration with foreign enterprises.

The NPC Managing Director Gholam-Hossein Nejabat announced that the methanol unit of Zagros Petrochemical Complex would come on stream in the near future and the urea and the ammoniac unit of Ghadir Petrochemical Complex would become operational by the end of current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2007).

According to Nejabat, the methanol unit’s annual production is 1.65 million tons and Ghdair’s unit will produce one million tons of urea and 650 thousand tons of ammoniac per annum.

“By March 20, 2007, the country will totally produce 15 million tons of petrochemical products and will export six million tons,” said the managing director of National Petrochemical Company, adding the exports would fetch the country three billion dollars.