Pointing to new claims made by some Saudi petrochemical companies that Iran is the source of the fall in oil prices, Ahmad Mahdavi said that, “the capacity of Iran’s annual production of petrochemical products is about 60 million tons, of which only 44-45 million tons are currently being utilized and a portion of that is supplied to the world market.”
Announcing that 70 ongoing projects are in the agenda of petrochemical industry, director general of Petrochemical Employers Association asserted that, “if the sanctions get removed, the annual petrochemical production will reach 120 million tons.”
Mahdavi reiterated that, “even though the sanctions are still in place, Iran is exporting petrochemicals without any problem.”
Underlining that the removal of sanctions is not going to bring about dramatic changes in the export of petrochemicals, he emphasized that, “lifting of sanctions will not lead to a noticeable increase in Iran’s export.”
The official, while announcing that the petrochemical Industry is developing a long-term plan to increase the diversity of petrochemicals especially during the post-sanction period, said, “the removal of sanctions will have no effect on further reduction of prices.”
Recently some international media have highlighted that by the removal of international sanctions on Iran and its return to global markets, petrochemical producers in Saudi Arabia will witness a further decline in the general price level of their products.
Accordingly, Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical industries, which have recently tried to reduce the level of prices to keep their customers, are not able to continue this policy.
However, the Saudis are hoping to keep a significant share of the market by relying on the quality of their products and their efficient marine transportation system.