Plan to Develop Qeshm Petrochemical Hub

EghtesadOnline: Qeshm Free Zone Organization and Parsian Oil and Gas Development Group Company signed on Sunday a memorandum of understanding on the development of a petrochemical hub on the largest Persian Gulf island.

News ID: ۷۸۰۴۴۱

14 November 2017

According to the agreement, the national project is slated to be implemented by $8 billion in domestic and foreign investment in cooperation with POGDC, NIPNA reported.

The hub will have an annual production capacity of 6 million tons.

After the nuclear deal was signed, the Iranian island of Qeshm managed to attract investments from 10 countries, including Russia, France, Britain, China and Japan, according to Financial Tribune.

Qeshm Island is located a few kilometers off the Iranian southern coast, opposite the port cities of Bandar Abbas and Bandar Khamir. The 135-km-long island boasts a 300-square-kilometer free zone.

As part of the MoU signed by Hamidreza Momeni, director of the organization, and Morteza Azizi, managing director of POGDC, the two sides have a two-month time to take preliminary steps.

Qeshm Free Zone Organization is committed to adopting measures that include supervising feasibility studies that are due to be implemented by an Australian engineering company WorleyParsons, the allocation of a 400-hectare piece of land and conducting studies on environmental and safety conditions of the plan.

POGDC also plans to help provide the financial model of the contract.

Iran's petrochemical output currently stands at 62 million tons, but is expected to reach 72 million tons a year by the end of the current fiscal year in March upon the launch of new petrochemical ventures.

Iran holds some of the world's largest crude oil and natural gas reserves, but its petrochemical industry is comparatively underdeveloped.