TEHRAN, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Iran boasted significantly higher exports of petrochemicals in the current year and plans are to open new facilities next year, officials said.
Abdolhossein Bayat, a deputy Iranian oil minister, said more than 10 million tons of petrochemical products were exported since the beginning of the Iranian year in March. This, he said, was 22 percent higher than during the same period last year, the semiofficial Fars News Agency reports.
Petrochemicals brought in $6.2 billion for Iran during the current reporting period, up 47 percent compared with last year, the minister added. Four projects were slated for production launches in March, the largest of which could produce up to 240,000 tons of product each year.
Iran during the summer switched many of its petrochemical plants over to gasoline production in order to cope with European and U.S. sanctions targeting Iran's energy sector.
Observers said the move was a temporary fix, however, as producing gasoline that ways is a costly effort in the long run.
