Talking to IRNA, Kazemi said Brazil and Spain have voiced the willingness to cooperate with Iran in constructing oil refineries.

‘Once the contract is finalized and Iran makes 50-percent investment in Spain and Brazil, they would buy all of their required crude oil from Iran,’ he added.

Kazemi reiterated that a consortium will be established by Iranian private section aimed at making investment in oil refineries.

Touching upon Iran’s participation in renovation of South African refineries, he said they have presented their proposals but the Iranian side has not done any measures yet.

On Iran’s participation in buying several refineries in Greece and India, Kazemi added the petroleum ministry would follow up such plans, but he is not aware the details of the plans.

Several months ago, Kazemi said Iran is mulling a plan to build or buy refineries in other countries in order to guarantee long-term sale of its crude oil.

He noted that investing in overseas refineries is one of the most common ways used by oil producing countries to boost crude exports, saying, “Therefore, the Iranian Petroleum Ministry is planning to invest in refineries in countries whose crude oil is being supplied by Iran.”

At present, some littoral states of the Persian Gulf, which are among world’s major oil exporters, own a remarkable number of oil refineries in American, European and Asian countries, which have greatly increased their clout in global energy markets.

Iran has likewise received proposals for buying or building overseas refineries in Asian, European, African and American countries, none of which have been finalized yet.

Ali-Mohammad Bossaqzadeh told Shana that 19 million tons of the products were exported worth $9.5bn.

He hoped that NPC production and export will increase in the current year with the increased petchem feedstock supply and the launching of new plants.

Last December, he told Shana that NPC is ready to cooperate with foreign investors in order to develop the petrochemical industry.

He said Iran’s coastal lines including the Oman Sea basin are of interest to foreign investors to develop petrochemical projects. “A major European firm is ready to invest 8bn euros in a petrochemical chain,” he added, but did not identify the company.

NPC hosted the Iran Petrochemical Forum (IPF 2015) on December 13-14 in Tehran in which some 97 foreign companies from 25 countries participated – an increase of 120 percent compared to IPF2014.

More than 1500 representatives from domestic and foreign firms including Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, and US are took part in the two-day event.

Participants in the IPF2015, one of the world’s most prestigious events representing the petrochemical industry, discussed the core issues that the industry is facing with the emphasis given to Iran.

It provided a platform where stakeholders and key players in the global petrochemical sector met to exchange knowledge and address the latest advancements and best practices which are capable of shaping the future of the industry.

Following the historic nuclear agreement, Iran used the event to unveil its post-sanctions projects and plans for further expanding the Iranian petrochemical output capacity from the current 60 million tons/year to over 138 million tons/y in 2020 and eventually to 180 million tons/y by 2025 with an investment of over $80bn.

NPC seeks to use Iran’s natural gas reserves as raw material to produce propylene and its derivatives to provide feed for the expansion of local downstream industries.