Caretaker of planning and development department of National Petrochemical Company of Iran Hassan Abbaszadeh said on Saturday that the company is focusing on leading petrochemical projects to replace the crude oil and gas exports.
He made the remarks speaking to IRNA economic correspondent on Saturday. Noting that the price of a ton of gas is $90 and the price of each ton of methanol is estimated between 150 and 200 dollars, the official said that implementing the projects and turning methanol into propylene, their price will rise to 1,500 dollars per ton.
Abbaszadeh said that such processing brings 700% value-added.
He said that standing against selling raw materials is divided into two parts: the first is to reduce export of crude oil and gas resources, one of the main examples of which is petrochemical industry, and the second is to stop selling raw the basic petrochemical products such as methanol as they will be turned into more valuable products in foreign countries and imported to the Iranian market more expensive than they could be produced inside the country.