‘New U.S. sanctions will not impede Iran’s petrochemical exports’

TEHRAN,June 2(MNA) – The intensification of U.S. sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical industry will not impede exports, the managing director of the National Iranian Petrochemical Company said in Tehran on Saturday. “Despite the sanctions, petrochemical products are being exported to over 65 countries. Iran started diversifying its petrochemical products and finding new markets two years ago,” NIPC Managing Director Abdolhosein Bayat added. On Friday, the United States blacklisted eight Iranian petrochemical companies as part of its plan to pressure Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program. The Bandar Imam Petrochemical Co., the Bou Ali Sina Petrochemical Co., the Mobin Petrochemical Co., and five other Iranian state-owned petrochemical companies have been put on the U.S. Treasury Department’s list. In January, Bayat said Iranian experts have mastered the technological expertise and acquired the licensing required to manufacture 38 petrochemical products. In the same month, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said the country is not concerned about the impact of Western sanctions on the development of its oil industry. “In recent years, with good support from the government, suitable investments have been made in the industry,” Qasemi stated. In May, Bayat said that over the past eight years, the country’s annual petrochemical output has increased by 38 million tons. The output will surpass 75 million tons by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, which ends on March 20, 2014, he noted. Iran exported about $12 billion worth of petrochemical products in the previous Iranian calendar year (March 2012-March 2013), he added. East Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa were the main destinations of Iran’s petrochemical products. In March, Bayat said the country’s petrochemical output is projected to hit 100 million tons by 2015.