Iran’s NDF allocates $3b for petchem projects

TEHRAN,Dec.31(MNA) - The National Development Fund of Iran allocated $3 billion for financing petrochemical projects. The sum will be channeled into 11 petrochemical projects, mainly in the west and the south of the country. On December 24, the Mehr News Agency quoted NDF Deputy Director Ehsan Sharifi as saying that about $43 billion has been deposited in the fund so far. Iran transfers 20 percent of its oil revenues to the NDF. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently said that the NDF’s assets would hit $55 billion by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, which ends on March 20, 2013. Iran plans to boost petrochemical production by 12 million tons by the end of spring next year (June 20, 2013), National Petrochemical Company Managing Director Abdolhossein Bayat said on Saturday. In November, Bayat said that about $80 billion in investment opportunities have been identified in both the upstream and downstream sectors of the Iranian petrochemical industry, which is taking great steps toward development. China and countries in Western Europe are the main recipients of Iran’s petrochemical exports, followed by countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, Africa, and Latin America, he noted. Iran is seeking new markets for its petrochemical products. Toward this end, the NPC has been identifying new export targets for the past two years, and boosting exports of polymer products is on the agenda. In April, Bayat said that Iran exported $14 billion worth of petrochemical products to 60 countries during the previous Iranian calendar year (March 2011-March 2012). He added that $10.5 billion of oil revenues will be allocated for the development of the national petrochemical industry.