TEHRAN, Sep. 16 (MNA) – Iran’s largest petrochemical company, the PGPIC, aims to increase its annual output by more than 15% this calendar year despite the continued pressure of US sanctions on the country’s petroleum industry.

CEO of the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries said on Sunday that the company eyes to hit an annual output target of 28.6 million metric tons (mt) by late March.

Abdulali Ali-Asgari said that PGPIC’s output had reached 12.8 in the five and a half months to September 5.

Ali-Asgari said the company’s annual output had been at 20 million mt in t  he calendar year to March 2020, a year after the United States toughened its sanctions on Iran’s oil industry.

He said that the PGPIC, currently the second largest petchem company in West Asia and the 27th largest in the world, seeks to join the global club of 20 largest petrochemical companies within the next five years.

The senior Oil Ministry official said that that company plans to hit an annual sales target of 5,090 trillion rials ($8.6 billion) by the end of the year to late March, down from 5,170 trillion rials reported in the previous calendar year.

However, he said that profits will increase to 1,150 trillion rials ($1.95 billion) this calendar year from 101 trillion rials reported last year.

PGPIC’s annual investments would reach 500 trillion rials in the year to late March, down from 720 trillion rials in the previous year, Ali-Asgari said.

MA/PR