Speaking on the sidelines of visiting petrochemical project in Ardebil today, Mohammadi said the current capacity of the petrochemical sector is 66 million tons.

He added that the value of petrochemical industry production is to increase by $24b which is now $17b.

Last month, CEO of Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Co. (PGPIC) Jafar Rabiyee said that the country will float 2 more Pet-Chem companies in the stock market as it seeks to finance expansion projects in downstream, in a bid to soft-pedal the impact of the US unilateral sanctions against Tehran.

He added that debuts for at least one of the companies, which he would not name, would take place before the end of the current Iranian calendar year in March.

“We hope one of them (debuts) could be realized until the end of the year,” said Rabiyee, whose PGPIC is viewed as the largest petrochemical holding in the Middle East region.

He added, however, that there was a chance that both companies could be floated until March if the bourse officials relaxed rules surrounding flotation.

The announcement comes more than a month after investors flocked to Tehran’s stock exchange market to buy shares offered for two major petrochemical companies.

Officials said some 9.6 trillion rials ($80 million) were pocketed in the sell-off in early July when more than 750,000 shares were traded for Nouri and Pars petchems.

Floatation of petrochemical firms comes as Iran is pursuing a downstream expansion strategy in its oil and gas sector amid decreased crude sales that have come as a result of US sanctions.

Listings are also viewed as a response to an exceptional investor demand in the stock market where people believe the shares could pay off much better than gold coins and hard currency in the current economic situation in Iran.

Iran’s export of petrochemicals is on rise as the country seeks to offset the impacts of US sanctions on its oil industry through the sale of refined products.

Early in July, Iranian First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri said that Iran’s petrochemical production capacity is expected to reach 90 million tons per year in 2020, saying that the industry’s annual output will witness an almost 50% rise from the current yearly production of 64 million tons.

In June, it was announced that Iran is building 14 petrochemical projects in Phase I of Parsian Energy Intensive Industrial Special Economic Zone (PEIISEZ) which will increase the country’s petrochemical output by 15 million tons per year.

The deputy petroleum minister for petrochemical affairs said implementation of 14 petrochemical projects in the first phase of PEIISEZ was expected to increase Iran’s annual petrochemical production capacity by 15 million tons with $19 billion of investment.

Mohammadi said implementation of the projects would create a new movement in the southern province of Hormuzgan.

He said of 55 petrochemical plants operating across the country, 30 were operating in Assaluyeh, Kangan and Dayyer, adding 17 projects were also under construction and dozens of others were being pitched for financing.