Ramadan Ali Sangdooyani, a member of the Energy Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, emphasized the need to strengthen the regulatory role of the National Petrochemical Company and said: “The petrochemical industry must move from the production of basic products towards completing the value chain with comprehensive and macro planning, and reducing raw material exports should become the main focus of policy-making in this industry.”
The Vital Role of Petrochemicals in the Country's Economy
He pointed out that the petrochemical industry is one of the most important drivers of Iran's economy, stating: “In a situation where the country faces currency restrictions and external pressures, this industry can play an effective role in creating sustainable foreign currency revenues.” The nominal capacity of the country's petrochemical industry has also seen significant growth in recent years, and new development plans have targeted further increases in this capacity.
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The Necessity of Completing the Value Chain
Sangdooyani added: “Simply increasing production capacity is not enough. We must see how much of this capacity leads to the production of higher value-added products and how much of the petrochemical products enter downstream chains.”
The member of the Energy Commission continued: “The first priority is to complete the value chain. We should not convert and export the country’s oil and gas resources only into basic products, but these products should be transformed into raw materials for various industries within the country. If the value chain is completed, in addition to increasing foreign currency revenues, thousands of job opportunities will be created in downstream industries, and the country's dependence on imports of many products will also decrease.”
Sangdooyani emphasized: “Real development occurs when the maximum economic value is created from existing resources. A new complex may be large in terms of production capacity, but if its product is not used in downstream sectors, we have lost part of the real capacity of the country's economy. Therefore, in the future, we must change the petrochemical development index from production tonnage to added value, domestic manufacturing depth, and value chain completion.”
He also stated: “The outlook for the industry is very promising, provided that its development is balanced. Iran has both suitable feedstock resources and a significant domestic and regional market. If investment, technology, and the value chain are strengthened simultaneously, petrochemicals can transform from a producer of basic products to one of the main pillars of the non-oil economy of the country.”
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