Hyundai mulls participation in Iran's petrochemical projects
By Sara Rajabova
Amid improvement Iran’s relations with foreign countries and expectations on soonest lifting of sanctions, the Asian companies also strive to participate in Iranian projects.
Following the Western companies, South Korea’s Hyundai held negotiations with Iran for participation in the country’s petrochemical projects.
Hyundai is the latest energy company to declare interest in Iran’s plans for “a second leap in its petrochemical industry” after negotiations with the likes of Germany’s Linde and BASF and Royal Dutch Shell.
Mohammad Hossein Peyvandi, deputy head of the National Petrochemical Company said on August 6 that brand name international companies are after renewed presence in Iran’s petrochemical industry development plans, Press TV reported.
He said officials of European and Asian firms have repeatedly made formal applications for a share in Iran's new development projects over the past few months.
Representatives from trading companies have repeatedly visited Tehran and some of them have placed permanent representatives there.
The petrochemical industry is the biggest source of foreign earnings for Iran after oil but U.S. sanctions have caused exports to decline. Officials have said about $70 billion of investment is needed in the sector over the next 10 years.
Iran’s total petrochemical production capacity stands at 60 million metric tons per year which the country plans to double.
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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
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