Iran plans to invest $25b to turn Chabahar into energy hub

TEHRAN,May 27(MNA) -The National Petrochemical Company (NPC) of Iran plans to invest up to $25 billion in the southeastern Chabahar Port to turn it into an energy hub, like Assalouyeh in south, the IRNA News Agency quoted the NPC director as saying on Saturday. Abdolhossein Bayat added that the average utilization of the installed petrochemical facilities is 78 percent in the country, which is three percent above the world’s average. Bayat already said that the country's petrochemical exports have not declined despite EU sanctions. “Nine petrochemical projects will be implemented in the current Iranian year which will boost the country’s output by 8 million tons,” the Shana News agency quoted him as saying. Iran has explored new destinations to export its petrochemical products, he said, adding that currently exporting petrochemical products to Europe is regularly underway. On April 18, Bayat said that Iran exported some $14 billion worth of petrochemical products to 60 countries last calendar year, which ended on March 19. He added that $10.5 billion of oil income will be allocated to the development of the national petrochemical industry. Iran has developed 69 plans to boost its petrochemical output from the past year’s 54 million tons to 100 million tons in 2015.