By Ladane Nasseri
Iran and Turkey are discussing construction of an urea and an ammonia unit in the industrial hub of Assaluyeh in southern Iran, Press TV said, citing Abdolhossein Bayat, who is also the managing director of National Iranian Petrochemical Co.
Talks include construction of a petrochemical plant in Miyandoab in western Azerbaijan province that can produce 539,000 tons of petrochemical products annually, the TV station reported.
Bayat, who didn’t name any Turkish companies, said businesses from Oman, Indonesia, Malaysia, Venezuela, Russia and South Africa have shown interest in cooperating with Iran in the development of petrochemical units, Press TV reported.
International sanctions have prevented Iran from realizing its potential as an energy supplier. Iran is the world’s fourth- largest oil producer and has the second-biggest gas reserves after Russia.
Iran is under four sets of United Nations sanctions for refusing to scale back its nuclear activities. Iran says its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes, a claim the U.S. and many of its allies reject.
In July, the U.S. blocked access to the American financial system for banks doing business in Iran . The European Union followed, banning investment and sales of equipment to Iran’s oil and natural-gas industries.
Iran aims to implement 47 petrochemical projects by the end of 2015 to add a total of 43 million tons a year of capacity, the report published on Press TV’s website said. Once those projects are completed, Iran’s production will represent about 5.3 percent of global petrochemical output and about one third in the Middle East, it said.
