Japan’s Itochu to finance petchem projects in Iran

According to media reports, Japan’s ITOCHU, a trading and investment business conglomerate, signed a petrochemical contract in Iran with Iran’s Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC) to finance petrochemical projects in Iran. The contract, which was worth €320 million, followed another contract of the same value with PGPIC signed in September, the reports indicated.

PGPIC reportedly plans to attract foreign investment to €1.5 billion along with short-term and medium-term contracts by March 2017.

Iran’s annual petrochemical production is currently reported to be at 60 million tons. According to media reports, this will rise by 8.5 million tons by March 2017 along with the start-up of a series of new petrochemical projects.