An Iranian official on June 8 said eight western European companies are interested in investing in the country’s $2.8bn Siraf oil refinery project.
Iran, which is Opec’s fifth largest crude producer, has huge oil and gas reserves but lacks refining capacity, leaving it heavily reliant on imports, reports Gulf News. Iran also lacks the industry technology due to the Western sanctions imposed on the country over its disputed nuclear programme.
“This project has been designed for the current situation,” Alireza Sadeghabadi, the managing-director of Siraf Refineries Infrastructure Co., said, referring to Iran’s self-sufficiency drive.
“Of course after the removal of sanctions more foreign companies will be interested in investing in Iran,” he said in an interview with Reuters.
According to Gulf News, the Siraf refinery project will have a processing capacity of 480,000 barrels per day and will be completed in 38 months. Sadeghabadi said eight processing plants would be built by private companies.
The Siraf refinery will have the capacity to produce more than 270,000 bpd of naphtha, 140,000 bpd of gasoil, 30,000 bpd of liquefied petroleum gas and 40,000 bpd of kerosene, Sadeghabadi added.
He also said about 60% of Siraf’s gas condensate would be converted into higher-value naphtha, which can be used to produce plastic-based products.
“Demand for naphtha is increasing and with the Siraf project we will be able to produce more [naphtha] for exporting to Asian chemical makers,” Sadeghabadi said.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/iranian-refinery-investment-attracts-western-european-companies/