Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The 13th International Exhibition of Plastic, Rubber, Machinery and Equipment (IRAN PLAST 2019) kicked-off in Tehran at the International Permanent Fair on September 22.

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, Managing Director of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Behzad Mohammadi, Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade Reza Rahmani, as well as a number of senior officials and directors of related industries attended the opening ceremony.

The 5-day event is attended by 570 Iranian and 35 foreign companies.

As many as 12 delegations from 10 countries, including Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, India, Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan, Tunisia, Vietnam, Armenia and Kenya attend the exhibition, and 14 countries participate through hotel pavilions.

IRAN PLAST is a platform for establishing links between the petrochemical industry and enterprises.

Several conferences and seminars were held on the sidelines of the exhibition, and it is expected that some contracts will be signed between petrochemical companies during this international event.

Meanwhile, 11 oil and energy ministers from East Asia and neighboring countries were invited to attend the exhibition and meetings with the Iranian oil minister on developing ties.

On the sidelines of the exhibition’s closing day, Mohammadi said the Iranian Oil Ministry is currently supplying 650,000 barrels of oil per day (33 million tons per year) as a feedstock for the country's petrochemical complexes.

He noted the volume of crude oil supplied to Iran’s petrochemical complexes is expected to reach 62 million tons per year (1.4 million barrels per day) in 2021 after the second jump - an increase in Iran’s annual petrochemical production by 35 million tons in the domestic petrochemical industry, which will be implemented in the same year.

Mohammadi believes that after the third jump in the industry is made and the country expand petrochemical production to 130 million tons per year, the supply of oil to domestic complexes will rise to 1.7 million barrels per day in 2025.

The leaps in Iran’s petrochemical industry are related to the government’s plans to implement a number of projects in this sector aimed at increasing production.

"Achieving this literally means reducing the export of raw materials and raw materials from the domestic oil industry to zero," he added.

Mohammadi mentioned the annual supply of raw materials to the processing sector of the industry is five million tons.

IRAN PLAST is one of the largest and most important exhibitions in Iran, in the fields of Raw Materials, Machinery & Moulds, Auxiliaries and Services for Plastics & Rubber industries, as well as, one of the most magnificent ones in the Middle East region and Asia.

Historically, IRAN PLAST has had a growing trend from the very first edition in 2002. Since then, more than 5,000 companies from Iran and other countries have participated at the event.

The first five editions of IRAN PLAST were organized annually, but from the 6th session, it became a biennale exhibition, in order to enhance its quality, structure and organization.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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