Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Iran plans to develop some 180 oil and gas fields in the future, ISNA news agency quoted National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) official Abdolmohammad Delparish as saying.

Some 160 oil and gas fields are being developed, he said. By the end of the Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2015) daily crude oil and natural gas production capacity will reach 5.1 million barrels and 1.5 billion cubic meters, respectively.

Meanwhile, Iran's oil minister Rostam Qasemi said the sanctions have caused Iran oil industry to swiftly move toward development.

Qasemi said on Tuesday that the country's experts and specialists have managed to foil the anti-Iran sanctions imposed on the country by the enemies and have taken fast steps in the direction of self-sufficiency and indigenization, NIOC Official News Agency Shana reported.

He added that the Iranian specialists and experts have proved the ineffectiveness of U.S.-led sanctions against his country.

The Western countries have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, whilst Iran rejects allegations saying it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

"Iran is a large country and has many potentials for development, and by taking advantage of these potentials, we can achieve many of our projected goals," the Iranian minister added.

Qasemi further noted that invaluable measures taken toward indigenization show that Iran has no concern in supplying catalysts and materials needed in the petrochemical industry.

Iran has significantly expanded the range and volume of its petrochemical products over the past few years, and the National Petrochemical Company has become the second largest producer and exporter of petrochemicals in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia.

Qasemi said at the inauguration of a hydrogenation project at Tabriz petrochemical plant, northwest of Iran on Tuesday that the share of petrochemical products in non-oil exports will rise this year by launching new petrochemical plans.

He continued that petrochemical products accounted for 40 percent of non-oil exports in previous Iranian year to March 2013 indicating the important role the petrochemical industry plays in the country's economy.

Hydrogenation unit of Tabriz petrochemical plant that was built with the aim of providing feedstock for the plant's olefin unit not only will replace LPG as the feedstock but will reduce dependency on other petrochemical plants to meet its needs.

The unit with production capacity of 33,900 tons of cuts per year was built with 101 billion rials investment and 300,000 hours work.

Tabriz petrochemical plant, which covers an area of approximately 391 square hectare, is located in southeast of Tabriz city, near Tabriz oil refinery. Olefins, styrene, polystyrene, polystyrene-resistant, linear low density polyethylene, high density polyethylene, ethyl benzene, butene - 1, benzene, butadiene-1, 3 and ABS are among the petrochemical products being produced by the plant.