CONTENT
- Historical Review
- Current Handicaps
- Victims of psychological, sociological & biological warfare!
- Struggle & Success
- Conclusions
- Related Articles
1. Historical Review
Throughout the history Iran became and thrived as a huge state, whose existence based on the land trade routes between Asia, Europe and Africa. It was more lucrative to buy and sell, instead do produce own goods. Also the mountainous topography of the country should be considered. Iran has a average topographic height of 1,300 km above sea level.
Iran is one of to the ancient keystones of cultural development and civilization and has a rich legacy in mining and processing of metals and minerals, but its role as a trade bridge was always much more important.
Metallic mineral resources of Iran,mined in ancient times. A brief reviewMorteza Momenzadeh
unter Mitarbeit von: Ali Hajisoltan & Mahsa Momenzadeh
https://www.academia.edu/6119747/Metallic_mineral_resources_of_Iran_mined_in_ancient_times_A_brief_review
"The Iranian plateau is one of the earliest parts of the world in which metal is mined and gained. A general view on the ancient mining and metallurgy in this archaeologically critical part of the world is missing which generally suggests a bi-lateral international project for studying the temporal-geographic-commercial and cultural relationships between mining-metallurgy industries in ancient mining sites and the neighboring and regional archaeological settlements.The present work is indeed a very preliminary example and can be considered as a prototype of a suggested program. The examples about commercial-cultural relationships between some ancient mining districts and the ancient civilization settlements which are discussed in this paper show that such a program is capable to bring about unexpectedly important information, which can explain“old questions” in the field of archaeology."
The ancient trade route between the Mediterranean Sea and China
By: Jona Lendering
Sunday, August 28, 2022
https://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/silk_road.php
"The Silk Road is the name for the trade route between the Mediterranean Sea and China. The first users of the road must have lived in the first half of the first millennium BCE, but the name 'Silk road' dates from the first century BCE. Its most famous traveler lived more than twelve hundred years later: Marco Polo of Venice (1254-1324 CE)."
Based on that background the US and European sanctions enforce the Iranians to industrialize the hard way. The harsher the sanctions the more growth in various industrial branches of Iran can be observed.
For example, it was very shameful that Iran as one of the biggest oil producers of the world had not enough refinery capacity to supply the domestic demand. Venezuela helped out with gasoline.
Venezuela and Iranhttps://geoarchitektur.blogspot.com/p/venezuela-and-iran.html
"Now, as Venezuela is strangulated by the internal and external imperial thugs and sea pirates and has become unable to satisfy the domestic demand for fuel, Iran is able to help out with gasoline supply."
2. Current Handicaps
The Iranian culture and mentality is not very supportive for industrial innovation. As power is not shared according qualification by level of education, professional skills and experience, but more on bloodline and personal relationship, it is hard to establish a free market economy.
That is the main reason why Iran was not able to industrialize at the same level like European countries, Japan, Turkey and USA and is still struggling to come forward.
In addition to that, the rich cultural background becomes more a burden than promoting technology. People need to study more industrial engineering and programming than Persian poetry and history. Iran has to develop finest CPUs, passenger and fighter jets of its own.
To improve the social and economic freedom and promote entrepreneurship, the most senseless rules of social conduct like not allowing women to attend sports competitions and other public events or clothing rules like forcing women to wear the headscarf should be dumped. The stupidity of such rules makes the society crumble from inside and be vulnerable for exploitation from outside.
3. Victims of psychological, sociological & biological warfare!
The society and political establishment is not fully aware of geophysical, social, psychological and biological warfare. The mask wearing mullahs and particularly the religious leader Khamaney demonstrates how easily they can be entrapped and make the society victim of biological attack. Who really would trust a mullah who himself does not trust in God and doesn't know anything about modern psychological, sociological and biological attacks as well as the immune system.
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This is a big shame, but these people are not educated and intelligent enough to realize their misery. The mullah regime is eliminating their last chunk of respect and authority.
The articles about the background of this mRNA injections and gruesome intentions are added to the last chapter.
4. Struggle & Success
Iran's thirsty energy industry runs up against water shortage
By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin OCTOBER 29, 2019
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-energy-water-analysis/irans-thirsty-energy-industry-runs-up-against-water-shortage-idUSKBN1X80H5
"LONDON (Reuters) - The plan to build a petrochemical plant near the Iranian city of Firouzabad had everything usually needed to get a project off the ground: approval from the nation’s top authority, funding from the Revolutionary Guards and plentiful gas feedstock.
But a decade on, work at the site is only 10% complete because of a row over an increasingly scarce resource in Iran that is vital to keep the facility cool: water.
“In early project studies, there were some mistakes about the amount of water the plant would need,” said Hamidreza Soleymannejad, one of the plant’s project managers. “They found the plant needs a lot of water, but the region could not provide that.”
The fate of the Firouzabad plant is not unique in Iran, even though the nation has huge oil and gas reserves and is eager to expand output of downstream products which can more easily evade crippling U.S. sanctions on its vital energy industry.
At least a dozen petrochemical, fertilizer and refinery projects, with combined capacity to produce more than 5 million tonnes a year of products, have hit the buffers or been delayed due to water supply problems, according to a Reuters assessment."
"Fasa Petrochemical Company and Darab Petrochemical Company, which each own 30% in Firouzabad Petrochemical Company, did not respond to requests for comment.
“Many of these projects were proposed by lawmakers who were trying to create jobs in their constituencies. Unfortunately the technical studies have been widely ignored,” said Reza Banimahd, a businessman in Tehran who has worked on refinery projects.
The water shortage is one of many challenges facing Tehran as it seeks to skirt U.S. sanctions by ramping up production of products, which are more difficult to trace back to Iran than Iranian crude, which has clearly identifiable characteristics.
Under sanctions, crude exports have plunged 80% and are now worth about $700 million a month - a calculation based on Iran’s normal selling price although under sanctions Iran tends to sell crude at a discount. By comparison, Tehran has kept oil product sales at about $500 million a month, Reuters calculations show.
Graphic: Iranian fuel oil exports,
KEEPING COOL
Oil refineries and other processing plants need water mainly for cooling. Producing a single gallon of gasoline requires 0.61–0.71 of a gallon of water. But diverting limited supplies away from farming towards industry carries political risks.
Drought and depleting water supplies have sparked unrest. Farmers in Iran's central region protested here in several cities in 2018 over water mismanagement, as rainfall dropped 25% below the average.
The plant in Firouzabad, an inland area in the parched south of the country, aimed to produce 1 million tonnes of ethylene a year. Based on figures for a similar capacity plant, that output would use more than 2 million tonnes of water a year."
Iran Declares Gasoline Self-Sufficiency but Challenges Still Remain
Mar 5 2020
https://www.bourseandbazaar.com/articles/2019/3/3/iran-declares-gasoline-self-sufficiency-but-challenges-still-remain
"During a grandiose opening ceremony attended by President Hassan Rouhani and Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, Iran inaugurated the third phase of its Persian Gulf Star Refinery in the energy-rich south February 18, declaring "self-sufficiency" in fulfilling national gasoline demand.
Located 25 kilometers west of the port city of Bandar Abbas, the refinery will enable Iran's average daily gasoline production to reach 105 million liters, according to official figures.
The facility, fed by condensate from the South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf, converts light crude into gasoline and other byproducts. The launch of the third phase has been described as a gigantic step in a country whose economy is slowing the face of sanctions reimposed following President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Despite sitting on the world's fourth-largest proved crude oil reserves, Iran has been historically reliant on imports to meet domestic gasoline demand due to insufficient refining capacity.
The latest phase of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery has cost the country USD 4 billion, financed entirely by domestic investment, with no foreign loans secured for the project. While producing 45 million liters of gasoline and 15 million liters of gasoil per day, the refinery also delivers 3 million liters of aviation fuel, as well as 130 tons of sulfur. Iran's oil ministry expects to save USD 15 million per day as imports volumes are expected to fall. The savings are especially important for a government already struggling to supply foreign currency markets amid increasing international banking restrictions.
"Iran's gasoline production has made history with its giant leaps in the past five years," declared Zanganeh during the inauguration ceremony, adding that increased gasoline production would help Iran "to counter unilateral US sanctions".
With the new refinery added to Iran's gasoline production cycle, Iran could feasibly export surplus production. Yet uncertainty related to US sanctions as well as skyrocketing consumption at home in recent years seem to have made the government think twice about export plans. "We have intentionally decided not to export our [surplus] gasoline, because we are planning to maintain good storage,” Zanganeh added without elaborating further.
With Iran's budget largely dependent upon its oil income, experts have for long sounded the alarm on the long-term consequences of the country's single-commodity economy. Consecutive administrations have, therefore, pursued policies to make the economy less reliant on the sale of crude oil. While the goal is yet far from being met, the Rouhani government has focused on diversifying energy exports to include other, higher-value petrol products such as gasoline and gasoil.
"Self-sufficiency in gasoline and gasoil production and moving toward exports were targets set and pursued by the government of Hope and Prudence," reported Arman, a reformist newspaper. In a February 19 editorial, the paper noted that in the face of disruptions caused by the US pullout from the JCPOA, Iran's oil ministry had redoubled efforts toward the self-sufficiency in gasoline production and that more countries besides Iraq and Afghanistan are expected to join the list of Iran's gasoline customers.
The inauguration of the new refinery phase took place just one week after nationwide ceremonies to mark the fortieth anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution. State media outlets hailed "gasoline self-sufficiency" as an “achievement and blessing" bestowed by the Islamic Revolution upon the nation. "It came at a time of economic war being waged on our country, with the enemies going the extra mile to inject disappointment in [the minds of] young Iranians," declared a report from the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
The governor-general of Hormozgan province had earlier described the new refinery as a successful example of Iran’s push to establish a "resistance economy", a term coined by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The concept has now evolved into a directive to all government institutions, a strategy to neutralize Western measures and a roadmap toward economic independence during sanctions times.
The leading contractor involved in the project was Khatam al-Anbia Construction Headquarters, known by the acronym GHORB. The company is an engineering, procurement, and construction firm with a near monopoly over Iran's mega projects. GHORB is affiliated with Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Saeed Mohammad, the company’s managing director, told Iran's state TV that the country's share in the enormous South Pars Field now exceeds that of neighboring Qatar. Mohammad also noted that the project was executed by an exclusively Iranian team with an average age of around 30 years old.
But even with the new refining capacity, worries persist that Iran's new gasoline self-sufficiency may be short-lived as domestic consumption continues to rise. The country’s average daily consumption last summer stood at 97 million liters, according to a report by the financial newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad. Notwithstanding the total capacity of 105 million liters achieved after the inauguration of the third phase, the 9% annual consumption growth rate "will use up the stored gasoline,” the newspaper reports.
Consumption continues to rise because gasoline in Iran remains cheap. Despite rising inflation, Iran's government has in recent years maintained a cap on the price of gasoline. Experts lament the fact that with considerable subsidies allocated to gasoline, the government has not only failed to curb the consumption, but has in fact stoked it. President Rouhani's budget plan for the upcoming Iranian year offers no provision to reduce subsidies in order to reduce consumption.
The future of genuine gasoline self-sufficiency in Iran might be less bright than the development of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery suggests."
Iranian home appliance firm to start TV panel production: Report
Thursday, 20 August 2020 3:35 PM
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/20/632241/Iran-local-TV-panel-production-report
Iran moves from oil to petrochemicals in export
Country launches 3 major petrochemical projects worth $1.6B to boost non-oil revenue
Syed Zafar Mehdi |07.08.2020
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/economy/iran-moves-from-oil-to-petrochemicals-in-export/1935139
Iranian NGL project using flare gas feedstock to come on line by March
Monday, 05 October 2020 5:33 PM
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/10/05/635712/Iran-flare-gas--NGL-project-opening
Iran scientists ready to counter US bullying concerning use of nuclear energy: AEOI
Thursday, 15 October 2020 3:05 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 15 October 2020 3:27 PM ]
"Iran’s strategic principles feature a far-seeing approach towards peaceful deployment of nuclear energy, the organization said, emphasizing the Islamic Republic’s insistence on exercising its right in the area despite foreign pressure by noting, “Nuclear power will remain in the dominance of the Iranian nation forever.”"
"The remarks came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the outgoing US administration’s most prominent Iran hawk, tweeted a set of antagonistic comments targeting the country’s nuclear program."
Iran has consistently and irreversibly distanced itself from the unconventional weapons on religious and humanitarian grounds. Tehran’s stance in the area has been sealed by a religious decree issued by Ayatollah Khamenei.
By “threatening the world,” Pompeo was apparently referring to retaliatory steps that Iran began to take in 2018 to gradually reverse its commitments under a nuclear agreement with world powers.
The agreement itself, which is known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has allowed Iran to take such countermeasures in case of non-commitment by the other signatories. Tehran only initiated the reprisal after the US illegally left the JCPOA and the Washington-allied members of the nuclear deal suspended their trade with Iran under the White House’s pressure."
"The US has been enlisting its companies and allies such as Saudi Arabia to replace Iran as Iraq’s source of energy.
Officials in Baghdad have said there is no easy substitute to imports from Iran because it will take years to adequately build up Iraq’s energy infrastructure.
They have said American demand acknowledges neither Iraq’s energy needs nor the complex relations between Baghdad and Tehran.
In addition to natural gas and electricity, Iraq imports a wide range of goods from Iran including food, agricultural products, home appliances, and air conditioners."
Iran finds deposit with 8 tonnes of gold reserves
Tuesday, 20 October 2020 1:21 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 20 October 2020 3:50 PM ]
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/10/20/636815/Iran-gold-reserves-discovery-steel
Iran has made a gold discovery in southeast Sistan and Baluchestan province, where definite reserves of 8 tonnes of the precious metal have been found, a provincial official says.
“The discovered gold mine in Sistan and Baluchestan is one of the economic mines of the country that was recently identified and after a long time, its exploration and survey stages were completed and the license for exploration of the mine with a definite reserves of eight tonnes of gold was issued,” the province’s under-secretary for economic affairs Mandana Zanganeh said.
“For exploration, the call for attracting investors will be published by the end of Mehr (on Wednesday), so that the capacities of this zone can be used for the economic prosperity of the region and creation of jobs,” Tasnim news agency quoted her as saying.
Zanganeh called Sistan and Baluchestan the “mineral rainbow” of Iran, where there are some of the most economic mines with reserves of antimony, titanium, copper and gold.
The copper mine is one of the high-grade prospects discovered in the province, which is in the phase of exploratory studies about to be completed by the end of the current Persian year in March 2021, she added.
“The copper reserves identified at the mine are expected to reach 400 million tonnes, but this amount can increase significantly after the exploration is completed.”
According to Zanganeh, about 60 percent of Sistan and Baluchestan has been surveyed in recent years and up to 200 mineral prospects have been identified.
“Studies on large antimony, titanium, copper and gold mining projects, which are among the country's economic mines, have been completed or are in progress and will be completed by the end of the year,” she added.
Zanganeh said major companies have announced readiness to invest and establish mineral processing industries in the province.
Sistan and Baluchestan is home to a titanium mine, with officials saying in the past that more than $4.2 billion of investment was needed to bring it fully online.
Fanuj is estimated to sit on 3.6 billion tonnes of titanium ore reserves. It includes a cluster of 30 deposits, each able to yield 1 million tonnes of titanium ore per year.
Titanium is the strategic metal of the century, named after the powerful Titan gods in Greek mythology. Because of its strength, light weight and corrosion resistance, the metal is highly prized in aircraft manufacturing, with further applications in military, aerospace, marine industries, dental implants and industrial processes.
According to provincial officials, more than 80 mines of titanium, iron ore and copper have also been explored in Fanuj.
Last month, Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade's Dariush Esmaeili told a mining forum in Tehran that Iran has identified 1,000 promising gold prospects, and that “gold in Iran will play a role similar to steel”.
The country is a leading producer of steel in the world, with officials saying exports continue despite the US sanctions. It plans to raise steel output to 55 million tonnes a year by 2025, of which 20 to 25 million tonnes would be earmarked for export.
According to officials, possible gold bearing zones have been identified in 21 provinces across Iran. The country’s proven gold reserves are currently estimated at 340 tonnes lying in 24 mines. However, with extensive prospecting this figure is thought to rise much higher.
Iran’s gold production capacity is put at more than 9 million tonnes a year. The Zarshuran gold complex in Takab is one of the most important mineral prospects, estimated to hold 110 tonnes of reserves. Aq Darreh, also in Takab, operates with 2.2 tonnes of gold a year.
With its sprawling petroleum industry under a strict sanctions regime which has cut revenues, the country is beginning to take stock of its other resources and mining is emerging as a new field which Iran can count on for revenue generation.
Iran obtains technology to turn methanol to propylene
Thursday, 24 September 2020 4:29 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 24 September 2020 4:29 PM ]
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/24/634935/Iran-petrochemical-technology-methanol-to-propylene
Over $1bn worth of Iranian petrochemical plants come on line
Thursday, 24 December 2020 6:43 PM
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/12/24/641448/Iran-petrochemical-plants-inauguration-Rouhani
"Photo published on December 24, 2020 shows a view to installations at Ilam Petrochemical Complex where a major olefin unit came on line earlier in the day."
"The Iranian government has launched three large petrochemical plants with over $1 billion in new investment as the country pushes ahead with plans to diversify the oil and gas sector by manufacturing more valuable products.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani used a video conference call on Thursday to inaugurate the three plants in the provinces of Ilam, Hamedan and West Azerbaijan, all in western Iran.
The official IRNA news agency said the projects had cost 280 trillion rials ($1.06 billion) in government and private investment.
The largest of the three was the olefin unit at Ilam Petrochemical Complex, a mega project where the annual output of various products, including ethylene, propylene and pyrolysis gasoline is expected to reach 750,000 metric tons.
Total investment spent on the olefin plant and its desulfurization facility has amounted to 866 million euros, said the IRNA report, adding that the project, known as the 13th Olefin in Iran, was a first in western Iran where the oil industry has a relatively low-key presence in underdeveloped regions like Ilam.
The Hegmataneh Petrochemicals, built just near the ancient city of Hamedan, also came on line on Thursday to become the first plant in the country manufacturing medical-grade plastics. Construction of the plant started nearly 17 years ago but it had stalled due to disputes between a local private investor, who owns nearly 57 percent of shares of the plant, and a government company with a 30-percent stake. The rest of shares in the factory is owned by an Italian company that has supplied the machinery.
A third new petchem project inaugurated by Rouhani on Thursday is located in the northwestern city of Urmia near the Turkish border. The plant is dedicated to production of potassium sulfate, a fertilizer widely used in industrial farming."
"Despite innumerable US, UN and EU sanctions Iran has managed to maintain food security and agricultural independence."
Achieving this rank while the country is suffering from a drought is commendable. With 17th place in terms of population in the world, Iran is in possession of 1.1 percent of the world's grain reserves.
Fortunately, during the four decades since the Islamic Republic was founded, we have been able to meet 80% of our agricultural needs and food, and we have the least dependence in this regard, especially on products such as wheat, we have managed to become relatively self-sufficient for some years. In the years when we faced drought, we met at least 80% of our wheat needs from the inside. The same was true for other strategic products. In the field of dairy products, rice, and some other strategic products, we have been able to achieve relative self-sufficiency and even managed to export 5 to 6 billion dollars a year in various agricultural products."
"The wheat harvest actually decreased by 500,000 tons in the last crop year, however, the rice harvest has increased by 200,000 tons. The production of other grains grew by 200,000 tons. Wheat, barley and rice are the mainstay of the Iranian diet.
Unfortunately, we are over 70% dependent on inputs. This is not called strategic agriculture for a country, when we have to import seeds, when we have to import pesticides and fertilizer to a large extent. We have to import livestock and fish feed inputs. This means incomplete and improper planning in the field of agriculture."
"FAO, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, has estimated the area under wheat cultivation in Iran will increase slightly in 2020. The area under cultivation is around 6 million hectares.The country comprises 14% arable land, 8% forest, 55% natural (non-arable) pastures and 23% desert.
One of the major projects undertaken in the Islamic Republic was the Agricultural Development Project, which we have been pursuing since 2010. We provided 9-trillion tomans of cheap credits and facilities to farmers, and we also helped new investors to invest in various fields with low-interest facilities."
"Unfortunately, Iran has a very small share in the global agricultural market, which is also a lucrative one. This is because, unfortunately, we have not and still do not have an integrated trade policy system based on the model of a resistive economy. I will mention some of the problems here on a case-by-case basis. One is the problems of the bureaucracy. The second is the lack of coordination between the organs. We don’t have a specific body that is responsible for the export of agricultural products."
"We are at the crossroads of the North-South and East-West trade corridors. This crossroads can be a special place for us in exporting products that are cultivated and created through investment in our country. Energy is abundant in this country. We have a lot of renewable energy. In addition to being one of the world's leading oil and gas producers and having huge reserves, we have renewable energy that can be used organically without generating pollution and with the lowest pollution costs to serve production and investment. We also have a large and young workforce."
"The Qanat irrigated agricultural systems made Iran the most fertile area in the history of Asia. There was once mass production of grains, as well as sugarcane, and date palm.
Qanats are underground tunnel systems that bring infiltrated groundwater, surface water, or spring water to the earth's surface using only gravitational force. Qanats have been used for irrigation and drinking water for centuries worldwide, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa and Central and West Asia."
"Iran's wheat yield reached 14 million tons in 2004, making Iran self sufficient in wheat ending 45 years of wheat imports, saving $1 billion a year in overseas purchases.
Iran may have lost the European market, in spite of the high quality of its exports, however, it is still exporting to countries such as Iraq, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan.
Apart from pistachio and saffron, of which Iran is the world's biggest producer, exports of other agricultural commodities, such as dates, apples, milk and vegetables, are not economically viable for Iranian exporters."
"Our Ministry of Industry, Mining, and Trade is structured so that it’s more willing to import in this regard. The desire to import is extremely high. The interests of many traders dominating the country's markets and product supply hinder the development of exports. There are some brokers who are mainly looking for imports because that’s how they generate money. Being able to attain licensing for import and export is a public right. It must not be given to a select few. Licenses must be granted to productive cooperatives."
"The share of the agriculture sector in Iran's non-petroleum gross domestic product (GDP) reached 8.8 percent in the previous Iranian calendar year, which began March 21st, an increase of 3 percent over 7 years."
"We have no choice but to invest in technology and knowledge-based institutions. The sanctions target both our foreign investment and our ability to import the technology we need. The solution is to take steps similar to other countries that have been sanctioned and threatened. They have relied on domestic resources and not on capital and technology coming from abroad."
"The FAO has implemented a TCP project in Iran to assist the country in rehabilitating the soil and water resources and enhancing the resilience of agriculture system and rural communities against climate change and climatic disasters.
To replenish two important water resources, the regions of Qazvin Plain (Qazvin Irrigation Network) and the Urmia Lake Basin, Water Accounting and mapping Evapotranspiration is a prerequisite.
Water accounting is the process of collecting, analysing, summarizing and reporting water related information. It reveals how water is used across different sectors and helps in understanding the benefits and existing trade-off of the water allocations and use patterns. And the integrated and cross sectional presentation of the information in water accounting helps the users (decision-makers) to see the bigger picture."
"Armed with a degree in Agricultural Engineering, zest and much perseverance, our “farmer” has fully mechanized his plantation.
In lots of aspects they are different. One of them we have seven meters height, and even everything is controlled by the smart climate control system which helps us to use less people to help us and we are doing this kind of things by hand in other greenhouses. But here everything is automatic."
"The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is holding an eLearning program in Iran to equip experts with the knowledge and skills to implement REWAS the advanced approach of Real Water Savings (REWAS).
REWAS uses the concept of ‘following the water’, under this concept, drainage, runoff and percolation of groundwater are no longer considered ‘losses,’ because downstream users often use these recoverable waters."
Iran's first export consignment arrives in Afghanistan via long-awaited railroad
Wednesday, 02 December 2020 11:44 PM
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/12/02/639876/Afghanistan-herat-railway-export-goods
The first consignment of Iranian export goods has arrived in Afghanistan through the long-awaited Khaf-Herat railroad, which is slated to be officially inaugurated in coming days.
The cement shipment was transferred from Iran to Afghanistan's Herat via rail, according to Jilani Farhad, the spokesman for Herat governor.
The consignment was reportedly dispatched on a trial basis to identify possible problems and challenges on that route.
The Afghan spokesman said the railroad, which is to be opened in less than 10 days by the two countries’ high-ranking officials, will connect Afghanistan to Asian and European countries through Iran.
The railroad project is composed of four sections: one from Khaf to Sangan in Iran and the second one from Sangan to the Chah-Sorkh border crossing, each of which is 76 km long, according to the Afghan spokesman.
Farhad said the third part, 62 km long, extends from Chah-Sorkh to Afghanistan's Rozanak (or Rahzanak).
"These three sections have all been funded by Iran," he said.
The final part of the project, which has long been touted as the sole viable option to build Afghanistan’s economy, stretches all the way from Rozanak to Herat.
A group of people watching the arrival of the train said they were "very happy to see a train in their place of living for the first time ever."
They said they would "wholeheartedly" cooperate with Afghan security forces to ensure the security of the raildroad and the export consignments, as the railroad will definitely improve the economic conditions of Afghan people.
Afghanistan has almost no functioning railways, where there is less than 25 km of track in the entire country. The Afghan section of the Khaf-Herat railway built with Iran includes 114 km of track which will open a new chapter in domestic freight and passenger transportation. It will reduce the cost of moving goods across the region to a fraction of that of highway transport.
The railway will stretch to Chabahar in southeastern Iran, boosting Afghanistan’s trade and bringing in its mining sector from the cold to exploit billions of dollars in untapped mineral reserves.
High ranking officials from Iran and Afghanistan will gather at their joint border to open the line by the end of the current Iranian month in about two weeks, Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami said last week.
“With the opening of the railway line and the possibility of transporting goods by train between Iran and Afghanistan, easier conditions have been created for the transportation of goods, so we hope that this development will have positive effects on trade between the two countries,” head of Iran-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce Hossein Salimi said Tuesday.
Afghanistan counts days for milestone opening of Iran railway linkA 200 km railway line, long touted as the sole viable option to build Afghanistan’s economy, will come to operation in the next couple of weeks, connecting the Afghan city of Herat to Mashhad in Iran.
According to Salimi, Iran’s exports to Afghanistan are estimated to reach $2.7 billion by the end of the current Persian year in March 2021.
Afghanistan remains one of the world’s poorest countries, some 19 years after the US invasion. Its main products are dried and fresh fruits, and carpets, which amount to a fraction of illegal opium estimated at some $2 billion by the International Monetary Fund.
Gold, silver and platinum are some of the precious elements identified in Afghanistan but the country has also been labeled as the potential “Saudi Arabia of lithium”, the raw material used in phone and electric car batteries.
Furthermore, the country has significant quantities of iron ore, uranium, zinc, tantalum, bauxite, coal, natural gas and copper which is increasingly becoming rare across the globe.
Projects such as the railway through Iran is believed to put a major dent in the illicit opium trade and reduce Afghanistan's reliance on foreign aid which is tied to heavy deployment of troops from the US, Europe and elsewhere.
Landlocked countries have always tried to access open seas. Afghanistan’s neighbors have indicated an interest in linking with the Khaf-Herat railway line to send cargoes to and from Iran’s Persian Gulf ports.
Uzbekistan and Afghanistan have signed an agreement to extend a railroad connecting the two countries to eventually give Uzbekistan a direct link to sea ports. Tashkent is interested in extending that line to Herat for a gateway to Iran.
Tajikistan also wants to construct a railway through Afghanistan to Iran and build an “energy line” across the three countries to supply Iranian oil products and gas, as well as to link the electricity grids of the three countries.
Iran and Afghanistan share historical and cultural ties and Iran has been hosting millions of Afghan refugees and immigrants who fled the Soviet–Afghan war, its ensuing civil war, and the US war in Afghanistan.
The Islamic Republic has also spent millions of dollars on development and reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. It has built hundreds of kilometers of highway, and railroad and dams over the last eight years, paving the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road."
Iran launches $3.4bn refinery to collect gas flares from oil fields
Thursday, 21 January 2021 1:53 PM
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/01/21/643535/Iran-launches--3-4bn-refinery-to-collect-gas-flares-from-oil-fields
Pressured by sanctions, Iran has to diversify its industrial production and become less dependent on imports for military and commercial goods. The education must be modified to supply the engineering work force and industrial enterprises have to founded to deliver the highly sophisticated products. One of the fields is the processing of raw carbon-hydrates to more valuable chemical products.
In addition to that the classic role of Iran as a country of trades routes has to be improved by building new ports, rail-roads and high-ways. The port of Chabahar will become very important element of this struggle.
This chapter has more for archiving news to give a hint about industrial and infrastructure investments and developments in Iran.
Iran annual petchem output nearing 100 mln tons: Minister
Thursday, 25 June 2020
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/06/25/628246/Iran-Rouhani-petrochemical-projects-opening
"Iran has opened two major petchem projects in northwest and center of the country to add some 25 million tons of capacity to its annual output.
Using a video conference call on Thursday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani opened the Miandoab Petrochemical Complex, a facility for production of polyethylene located in the West Azerbaijan province on the border with Turkey.
Rouhani also gave the go-ahead for the start of works at a hexane production unit at Shazand Refinery, a major petchem complex located in Markazi province.
Iran’s Oil Minister BIjan Namdar Zanganeh said launching the new projects would help Iran increase its gross annual output of petchem products to 100 million metric tons by March 2021 from 70 million tons currently.
Miandoab Petrochemicals would feed on ethylene transferred from southern Iran through a 1,660-kilometer pipeline, the longest in the world which has enabled Iran to economize fuel consumption in refineries located west of the country.
One main reason for the slump would be the depressed prices in the international oil markets.
The refinery in Miandoab has cost over $100 million and is capable of producing some 140,000 tons of heavy polyethylene each year, said a report by the official IRNA news agency.
Another petchem project launched on Thursday was a unit for production of hexane, a key constituent of gasoline, in Shazand Refinery. Authorities said the scheme would generate around $45 million in revenues for Iran through an increase of half a million liters in gasoline production per day.
Iran has continued to develop its oil industry regardless of a series of harsh American sanctions that have been in place since November 2018.
The country’s petchem sector has thrived massively at the time of sanctions as refineries keep sending major shipments to countries around the world, generating over $20 billion in revenues for the government each year."
Iranian railway to provide landlocked Afghanistan with a lifeline
Wednesday, 08 July 2020 4:14 PM
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/07/08/629197/Iran-Chabahar-railway-Afghanistan-Hassan-Rouhani
"A 610-kilometer railway connecting Iran’s only ocean port of Chabahar to Zahedan near the eastern border would provide a lifeline to the landlocked Afghanistan, a country where the transport system has been hampered by years of war and a fierce rivalry between two major neighbors of India and Pakistan.
Afghans were offered a fresh glimmer of hope on Wednesday when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that the country was making a major progress in its plans to finish the Chabahar-Zahedan railway.
Rouhani said during a Cabinet session that a major part of the work for laying tracks on the route will finish by the end of current calendar year in March. He expressed hope that the route will be almost ready by the end of his term in August 2021.
The announcement came a day after Iran’s transportation minister Mohammad Eslami travelled to the far south-east to order the beginning of track-laying operation from Zahedan, the capital of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province.
Iranian official says Chabahar route will outshine Suez Canal
Iran says a North-South route that passes through the port of Chabahar is a much quicker link than Suez.
According to the plans, tracks on more than 150 kilometers of the length of the railway covering the distance between Zahedan to Khash and from Chabahar to Iranshahr will be laid until March.
Iran has drawn nearly 300 million euros from its sovereign wealth fund to speed up the project as it is a key part in plans to frequent the port of Chabahar on the Sea of Oman.
The railway is expected to carry nearly one million passengers and 800,000 metric tons of freight in its first year of operation in 2022, according to senior transportation authority who was present at the Tuesday ceremony to mark the start of track-laying operation.
Afghanistan and India aim to take the maximum benefit from the railway as it will boost bilateral trade ties that have been hampered because of long rivalries between India and Pakistan.
India, itself a major contributor to development works at Chabahar, seeks to use the transit corridor through Iran and Afghanistan to facilitate its trade access to other landlocked countries in the Central Asia region."
Iran’s non-oil exports near $11bn in five months: Report
Saturday, 05 September 2020 2:37 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 05 September 2020 2:38 PM ]
"Iran says total exports excluding crude reached nearly $11 billion in five months to late August."
"The report published on Saturday showed that total exports from Iran between March 20 and August 21 had exceeded $10.9 billion while imports into Iran had topped $13.7 billion over the same period.
MIMT figures showed that gross weight of export shipments over the period were nearly three times the weight of imported goods as Iran shipped 38 million metric tons of cargoes to other countries against 13.8 tons imported.
Corn, which Iran is increasingly using as animal feed, was a major import item, showed the report, as the country took delivery of nearly 4.3 million tons of shipments, a 14-percent surge year on year in late August.
Iran’s customs office says trade deficit for the month ending August 21 stood at $713 million.
The figures also showed that trade with other countries rebounded in July-August as neighbors and countries around the world began to ease restrictions meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Iran shipped $2.16 worth of goods in the fifth month of the calendar year while imports reached $2.875 billion. China remained the largest trade partner as it topped the list of Iran’s main export destinations while it was also the biggest supplier of goods to the country, according to the MIMT.
Iran’s non-oil trade has remained largely stable despite sanctions imposed by the United States since 2018. The bans have sought to deter governments and entities from engaging in trade with Tehran.
However, direct sanctions on trade of crude have caused a boom in Iran’s non-oil exports as the country keeps finding more markets for its high-quality products."
From this article we can learn that Iran has lost its natural precipitation by 25%! This is the impact of geophysical warfare by the USA and allies. However Iran is already using the same climate control technologies to take the water back. The government and the army are well aware of the decades long water deprivation by geophysical warfare. The dry rives have turned into over-spilling streams and lakes are filled.
Iran's thirsty energy industry runs up against water shortage
By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin OCTOBER 29, 2019
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-energy-water-analysis/irans-thirsty-energy-industry-runs-up-against-water-shortage-idUSKBN1X80H5
"LONDON (Reuters) - The plan to build a petrochemical plant near the Iranian city of Firouzabad had everything usually needed to get a project off the ground: approval from the nation’s top authority, funding from the Revolutionary Guards and plentiful gas feedstock.
But a decade on, work at the site is only 10% complete because of a row over an increasingly scarce resource in Iran that is vital to keep the facility cool: water.
“In early project studies, there were some mistakes about the amount of water the plant would need,” said Hamidreza Soleymannejad, one of the plant’s project managers. “They found the plant needs a lot of water, but the region could not provide that.”
The fate of the Firouzabad plant is not unique in Iran, even though the nation has huge oil and gas reserves and is eager to expand output of downstream products which can more easily evade crippling U.S. sanctions on its vital energy industry.
At least a dozen petrochemical, fertilizer and refinery projects, with combined capacity to produce more than 5 million tonnes a year of products, have hit the buffers or been delayed due to water supply problems, according to a Reuters assessment."
"Fasa Petrochemical Company and Darab Petrochemical Company, which each own 30% in Firouzabad Petrochemical Company, did not respond to requests for comment.
“Many of these projects were proposed by lawmakers who were trying to create jobs in their constituencies. Unfortunately the technical studies have been widely ignored,” said Reza Banimahd, a businessman in Tehran who has worked on refinery projects.
The water shortage is one of many challenges facing Tehran as it seeks to skirt U.S. sanctions by ramping up production of products, which are more difficult to trace back to Iran than Iranian crude, which has clearly identifiable characteristics.
Under sanctions, crude exports have plunged 80% and are now worth about $700 million a month - a calculation based on Iran’s normal selling price although under sanctions Iran tends to sell crude at a discount. By comparison, Tehran has kept oil product sales at about $500 million a month, Reuters calculations show.
Graphic: Iranian fuel oil exports,
KEEPING COOL
Oil refineries and other processing plants need water mainly for cooling. Producing a single gallon of gasoline requires 0.61–0.71 of a gallon of water. But diverting limited supplies away from farming towards industry carries political risks.
Drought and depleting water supplies have sparked unrest. Farmers in Iran's central region protested here in several cities in 2018 over water mismanagement, as rainfall dropped 25% below the average.
The plant in Firouzabad, an inland area in the parched south of the country, aimed to produce 1 million tonnes of ethylene a year. Based on figures for a similar capacity plant, that output would use more than 2 million tonnes of water a year."
Iran Declares Gasoline Self-Sufficiency but Challenges Still Remain
Mar 5 2020
https://www.bourseandbazaar.com/articles/2019/3/3/iran-declares-gasoline-self-sufficiency-but-challenges-still-remain
"During a grandiose opening ceremony attended by President Hassan Rouhani and Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, Iran inaugurated the third phase of its Persian Gulf Star Refinery in the energy-rich south February 18, declaring "self-sufficiency" in fulfilling national gasoline demand.
Located 25 kilometers west of the port city of Bandar Abbas, the refinery will enable Iran's average daily gasoline production to reach 105 million liters, according to official figures.
The facility, fed by condensate from the South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf, converts light crude into gasoline and other byproducts. The launch of the third phase has been described as a gigantic step in a country whose economy is slowing the face of sanctions reimposed following President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Despite sitting on the world's fourth-largest proved crude oil reserves, Iran has been historically reliant on imports to meet domestic gasoline demand due to insufficient refining capacity.
The latest phase of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery has cost the country USD 4 billion, financed entirely by domestic investment, with no foreign loans secured for the project. While producing 45 million liters of gasoline and 15 million liters of gasoil per day, the refinery also delivers 3 million liters of aviation fuel, as well as 130 tons of sulfur. Iran's oil ministry expects to save USD 15 million per day as imports volumes are expected to fall. The savings are especially important for a government already struggling to supply foreign currency markets amid increasing international banking restrictions.
"Iran's gasoline production has made history with its giant leaps in the past five years," declared Zanganeh during the inauguration ceremony, adding that increased gasoline production would help Iran "to counter unilateral US sanctions".
With the new refinery added to Iran's gasoline production cycle, Iran could feasibly export surplus production. Yet uncertainty related to US sanctions as well as skyrocketing consumption at home in recent years seem to have made the government think twice about export plans. "We have intentionally decided not to export our [surplus] gasoline, because we are planning to maintain good storage,” Zanganeh added without elaborating further.
With Iran's budget largely dependent upon its oil income, experts have for long sounded the alarm on the long-term consequences of the country's single-commodity economy. Consecutive administrations have, therefore, pursued policies to make the economy less reliant on the sale of crude oil. While the goal is yet far from being met, the Rouhani government has focused on diversifying energy exports to include other, higher-value petrol products such as gasoline and gasoil.
"Self-sufficiency in gasoline and gasoil production and moving toward exports were targets set and pursued by the government of Hope and Prudence," reported Arman, a reformist newspaper. In a February 19 editorial, the paper noted that in the face of disruptions caused by the US pullout from the JCPOA, Iran's oil ministry had redoubled efforts toward the self-sufficiency in gasoline production and that more countries besides Iraq and Afghanistan are expected to join the list of Iran's gasoline customers.
The inauguration of the new refinery phase took place just one week after nationwide ceremonies to mark the fortieth anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution. State media outlets hailed "gasoline self-sufficiency" as an “achievement and blessing" bestowed by the Islamic Revolution upon the nation. "It came at a time of economic war being waged on our country, with the enemies going the extra mile to inject disappointment in [the minds of] young Iranians," declared a report from the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
The governor-general of Hormozgan province had earlier described the new refinery as a successful example of Iran’s push to establish a "resistance economy", a term coined by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The concept has now evolved into a directive to all government institutions, a strategy to neutralize Western measures and a roadmap toward economic independence during sanctions times.
The leading contractor involved in the project was Khatam al-Anbia Construction Headquarters, known by the acronym GHORB. The company is an engineering, procurement, and construction firm with a near monopoly over Iran's mega projects. GHORB is affiliated with Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Saeed Mohammad, the company’s managing director, told Iran's state TV that the country's share in the enormous South Pars Field now exceeds that of neighboring Qatar. Mohammad also noted that the project was executed by an exclusively Iranian team with an average age of around 30 years old.
But even with the new refining capacity, worries persist that Iran's new gasoline self-sufficiency may be short-lived as domestic consumption continues to rise. The country’s average daily consumption last summer stood at 97 million liters, according to a report by the financial newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad. Notwithstanding the total capacity of 105 million liters achieved after the inauguration of the third phase, the 9% annual consumption growth rate "will use up the stored gasoline,” the newspaper reports.
Consumption continues to rise because gasoline in Iran remains cheap. Despite rising inflation, Iran's government has in recent years maintained a cap on the price of gasoline. Experts lament the fact that with considerable subsidies allocated to gasoline, the government has not only failed to curb the consumption, but has in fact stoked it. President Rouhani's budget plan for the upcoming Iranian year offers no provision to reduce subsidies in order to reduce consumption.
The future of genuine gasoline self-sufficiency in Iran might be less bright than the development of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery suggests."
Iran divesting world’s largest gas condensate refinery
Saturday, 05 September 2020 12:38 PM
"The Iranian government will soon divest parts of its shares in the Persian Gulf Star Oil Company (PGSCO) which runs the world’s largest refinery working on natural gas condensate.
The official IRNA news agency said in a report that the divestment for PGSCO is possible now that authorities have agreed the company can pay its foreign exchange debts in local currency rial.
Head of Iran’s Fara Bourse (IFB), a subsidiary market of the Tehran Stock Exchange, said listing would take place shortly after initial paperwork is concluded.
“A part of shares of this company will be offered in the IFB market upon completion of required procedures for admission and listing,” said Amir Hamouni.
The state-run PGSCO owns the Persian Gulf Star Refinery which is responsible for over 40 percent of Iran’s total gasoline production of 105 million liters per day. It also produces high-quality diesel and jet fuel.
Since its launch about seven years ago, the refinery has turned Iran from a net importer of gasoline into a net exporter. It runs on natural gas condensate supplied from South Pars, the world’s largest gas field located in the Persian Gulf.
IRNA said feedstock capacity in the refinery has reached nearly half a million barrels per day (bpd) including that used in three physical phases with 120,000 bpd apiece and an extra 120,000 bpd of throughput which has become possible thanks to improvements carried out on current structures and installations.
A massive fourth phase is being developed for the Persian Gulf Star to further boost Iran’s fuel output and help find new exports markets for the country."
Iranian home appliance firm to start TV panel production: Report
Thursday, 20 August 2020 3:35 PM
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/20/632241/Iran-local-TV-panel-production-report
An Iranian company has mastered the ability to make TV panels inside Iran amid costly imports.
"Iran is no longer in need of importing light-emitting diode (LED) TV panels as a local company have mastered the ability to manufacture them inside the country amid sanctions that have made imports of TV sets and its parts more and more costly.
A Thursday report by the official IRNA news agency said that the unidentified firm would be capable of making around 700,000 TV panels per year once it is officially launched in coming weeks.
That comes as previous reports had suggested that Iran had huge problems to locally produce TV sets because a handful of global TV panel makers have been refusing to supply them to the country because of the American sanctions.
It also comes nearly a year after Samsung and LG, two giant South Korean home appliance companies, left the country under pressure from the US.
Samsung and LG, once responsible for 70 percent of Iran TV market, have even denied Iran the right to produce TV sets using panels made by the two.
A Thursday report by the official IRNA news agency said that the unidentified firm would be capable of making around 700,000 TV panels per year once it is officially launched in coming weeks.
That comes as previous reports had suggested that Iran had huge problems to locally produce TV sets because a handful of global TV panel makers have been refusing to supply them to the country because of the American sanctions.
It also comes nearly a year after Samsung and LG, two giant South Korean home appliance companies, left the country under pressure from the US.
Samsung and LG, once responsible for 70 percent of Iran TV market, have even denied Iran the right to produce TV sets using panels made by the two.
Iran reports a yearly increase of nearly 53% in car output for the month ending late July.
Iran’s industries ministry (MIMT) said last month that a TV panel production line would be officially launched in late August and during celebrations to mark the Administration Week in Iran.
After causing an initial shortage of home appliances in Iran, the US sanctions seem to have given Iran the ability to revive its old brands in the sector.
The IRNA report said TV set production had increased by nearly 50 percent year on year in the three months ending June 20 compared to the same period in 2019, reaching a total output of 210,200 sets in the first quarter of the current calendar year.
The report cited MIMT figures as saying that local home appliance brands had churned out 207,400 sets of washing machines over the same period, an increase of 115.1 percent year on year.
Local refrigerator and freezer production also increased by nearly eight percent in late June to 328,500 units, said the report."
Iran’s industries ministry (MIMT) said last month that a TV panel production line would be officially launched in late August and during celebrations to mark the Administration Week in Iran.
After causing an initial shortage of home appliances in Iran, the US sanctions seem to have given Iran the ability to revive its old brands in the sector.
The IRNA report said TV set production had increased by nearly 50 percent year on year in the three months ending June 20 compared to the same period in 2019, reaching a total output of 210,200 sets in the first quarter of the current calendar year.
The report cited MIMT figures as saying that local home appliance brands had churned out 207,400 sets of washing machines over the same period, an increase of 115.1 percent year on year.
Local refrigerator and freezer production also increased by nearly eight percent in late June to 328,500 units, said the report."
Iran moves from oil to petrochemicals in export
Country launches 3 major petrochemical projects worth $1.6B to boost non-oil revenue
Syed Zafar Mehdi |07.08.2020
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/economy/iran-moves-from-oil-to-petrochemicals-in-export/1935139
"To reduce the overwhelming dependence on crude oil exports, which have been hit hard by sanctions, Iran is slowly shifting focus towards petrochemicals, the country’s second-largest export industry.
Three major petrochemical projects worth $1.6 billion were inaugurated on Thursday as part of efforts by the Iran government to boost non-oil revenue at a time when oil exports have plummeted.
The southern Bushehr province houses Kimia Pars Middle East Petrochemical Plant -- with an annual production capacity of 1.65 million tons of methanol -- and Kaveh Petrochemical Plant -- the largest methanol producer complex in the world with a daily production of 7,000 tons -- according to Shana, a news portal associated with the Oil Ministry.
The country's Lorestan Petrochemical Catalyst Production Unit, which has an annual production capacity of 100 tons of catalysts required to produce polyethylene, is located in the western Lorestan province.
In a clear indication that Iran is vigorously pushing ahead with petrochemical sales, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said 13 more projects would be launched by March 21, 2021 -- the end of the current Iranian fiscal year.
The total investment in new projects by the end of next fiscal year -- March 21, 2022 -- Zanganeh added, would be $17 billion (27 projects), which will go further up to $37 billion in the next four years.
President Hassan Rouhani, who attended the ceremony through video-conference, said new petrochemical projects would help the country’s “non-oil revenue, self-sufficiency and employment”.
Iran’s economy, traditionally dependent on oil exports, has withered in recent years with the US government reinstating crippling economic sanctions.
As a viable alternative to oil exports, the government sees potential in the production and sale of petrochemicals. A total of 55 Iranian petrochemical companies produced 31 million tons of petrochemical products in the last fiscal year that ended on March 21, while exports generated $9.5 billion in revenue.
Of the total output, 23 million tons were exported to international markets and 8 million tons sold inside the country. The total revenue generated from its sale stood at $14.5 billion, according to the Oil Ministry's news portal.
The foreign export of 23 million tons of petrochemicals in the last fiscal helped in compensating for the loss of 20% oil revenue due to sanctions, according to officials.
Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said Iran’s petrochemical production capacity had doubled since Rouhani took office in 2013, adding that the aim was to triple the production capacity by 2025.
While figures may paint a rosy picture, not everything is hunky-dory though. This industry too has come under the hammer of sanctions.
Earlier this year, four international petroleum companies faced US sanctions for allegedly exporting oil from the Iranian National Oil Company.
Before that, in June 2019, the US government had sanctioned Iran’s largest petrochemical group, Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, accusing it of providing “financial support” to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The tensions between Iran and the US escalated after President Donald Trump announced a unilateral exit from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 and reinstated sanctions that had been eased by his predecessor.
Iran’s oil industry has been hit hard by the sanctions, with many countries cutting down oil imports from Iran, fearing backlash from the US. The petrochemical industry has filled that gap, only to some extent."
Three major petrochemical projects worth $1.6 billion were inaugurated on Thursday as part of efforts by the Iran government to boost non-oil revenue at a time when oil exports have plummeted.
The southern Bushehr province houses Kimia Pars Middle East Petrochemical Plant -- with an annual production capacity of 1.65 million tons of methanol -- and Kaveh Petrochemical Plant -- the largest methanol producer complex in the world with a daily production of 7,000 tons -- according to Shana, a news portal associated with the Oil Ministry.
The country's Lorestan Petrochemical Catalyst Production Unit, which has an annual production capacity of 100 tons of catalysts required to produce polyethylene, is located in the western Lorestan province.
In a clear indication that Iran is vigorously pushing ahead with petrochemical sales, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said 13 more projects would be launched by March 21, 2021 -- the end of the current Iranian fiscal year.
The total investment in new projects by the end of next fiscal year -- March 21, 2022 -- Zanganeh added, would be $17 billion (27 projects), which will go further up to $37 billion in the next four years.
President Hassan Rouhani, who attended the ceremony through video-conference, said new petrochemical projects would help the country’s “non-oil revenue, self-sufficiency and employment”.
Iran’s economy, traditionally dependent on oil exports, has withered in recent years with the US government reinstating crippling economic sanctions.
As a viable alternative to oil exports, the government sees potential in the production and sale of petrochemicals. A total of 55 Iranian petrochemical companies produced 31 million tons of petrochemical products in the last fiscal year that ended on March 21, while exports generated $9.5 billion in revenue.
Of the total output, 23 million tons were exported to international markets and 8 million tons sold inside the country. The total revenue generated from its sale stood at $14.5 billion, according to the Oil Ministry's news portal.
The foreign export of 23 million tons of petrochemicals in the last fiscal helped in compensating for the loss of 20% oil revenue due to sanctions, according to officials.
Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said Iran’s petrochemical production capacity had doubled since Rouhani took office in 2013, adding that the aim was to triple the production capacity by 2025.
While figures may paint a rosy picture, not everything is hunky-dory though. This industry too has come under the hammer of sanctions.
Earlier this year, four international petroleum companies faced US sanctions for allegedly exporting oil from the Iranian National Oil Company.
Before that, in June 2019, the US government had sanctioned Iran’s largest petrochemical group, Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, accusing it of providing “financial support” to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The tensions between Iran and the US escalated after President Donald Trump announced a unilateral exit from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 and reinstated sanctions that had been eased by his predecessor.
Iran’s oil industry has been hit hard by the sanctions, with many countries cutting down oil imports from Iran, fearing backlash from the US. The petrochemical industry has filled that gap, only to some extent."
Monday, 05 October 2020 5:33 PM
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/10/05/635712/Iran-flare-gas--NGL-project-opening
A massive NGL project which relies on flare gas as feedstock would come on line by March.
An Iranian contractor says a major natural gas liquids (NGL) plant which will collect flare gases from old and key oilfileds southwest of the country would open by March this year.
Saeid Mohammad, who heads Khatam Headquarters, an engineering and construction company run by Iran’s elite military force IRGC, said on Monday that the first phase of NGL 3200 project would use 250 million cubic feet (7.07 million cubic meters) of flares collected from six oilfields located to the west of the Karoun River.
Mohammad described the NGL 3200 as a megaproject in the Iranian petroleum industry, saying it would create thousands of permanent jobs while hugely boosting the quality of life for local people in Khuzestan province.
An Iranian contractor says a major natural gas liquids (NGL) plant which will collect flare gases from old and key oilfileds southwest of the country would open by March this year.
Saeid Mohammad, who heads Khatam Headquarters, an engineering and construction company run by Iran’s elite military force IRGC, said on Monday that the first phase of NGL 3200 project would use 250 million cubic feet (7.07 million cubic meters) of flares collected from six oilfields located to the west of the Karoun River.
Mohammad described the NGL 3200 as a megaproject in the Iranian petroleum industry, saying it would create thousands of permanent jobs while hugely boosting the quality of life for local people in Khuzestan province.
Gasoline accounted for 7.37% of the value of Iran’s total non-oil exports in five months to late August.
Iran has three major NGL projects that would feed on flares, the gases burnt during oil production process. The country burns nearly 13 billion cubic meters of flares each year, the fourth largest in the world according a study carried out in 2019.
The gas processing plant in Khuzestan is expected to produce 340 million cubic feet (9.6 million cubic meters) of sweet gas and 41 metric tons of sulfur per day, said Mohammad, adding that products will help revive idle capacities in key petrochemical units in Mahshahr, the hub of Iran’s petrochemical industry on the Persian Gulf coast.
Construction of NGL 3200 comes despite many odds faced by the Iranian energy sector because of American sanctions. The progress of the project has reached a record rate of 3.5 percent per month, said Mohammad, adding that even the French giant Total had failed to reach such a speed in projects it was awarded in Iran before the sanctions."
Iran has three major NGL projects that would feed on flares, the gases burnt during oil production process. The country burns nearly 13 billion cubic meters of flares each year, the fourth largest in the world according a study carried out in 2019.
The gas processing plant in Khuzestan is expected to produce 340 million cubic feet (9.6 million cubic meters) of sweet gas and 41 metric tons of sulfur per day, said Mohammad, adding that products will help revive idle capacities in key petrochemical units in Mahshahr, the hub of Iran’s petrochemical industry on the Persian Gulf coast.
Construction of NGL 3200 comes despite many odds faced by the Iranian energy sector because of American sanctions. The progress of the project has reached a record rate of 3.5 percent per month, said Mohammad, adding that even the French giant Total had failed to reach such a speed in projects it was awarded in Iran before the sanctions."
Iran scientists ready to counter US bullying concerning use of nuclear energy: AEOI
Thursday, 15 October 2020 3:05 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 15 October 2020 3:27 PM ]
Iran’s top atomic authority says Iranian scientists will confront the United States’ bullying targeting the Islamic Republic’s right to peaceful nuclear energy, asserting that the country will never give up this right in the face of Washington’s one-upmanship.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran nuclear scientists, following the guidelines of the Supreme Leader (of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei), are ready to face the coercion and unilateralism of the US government relating to the use of the nuclear energy,” the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) tweeted on Thursday."
“The Islamic Republic of Iran nuclear scientists, following the guidelines of the Supreme Leader (of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei), are ready to face the coercion and unilateralism of the US government relating to the use of the nuclear energy,” the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) tweeted on Thursday."
"Iran’s strategic principles feature a far-seeing approach towards peaceful deployment of nuclear energy, the organization said, emphasizing the Islamic Republic’s insistence on exercising its right in the area despite foreign pressure by noting, “Nuclear power will remain in the dominance of the Iranian nation forever.”"
"The remarks came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the outgoing US administration’s most prominent Iran hawk, tweeted a set of antagonistic comments targeting the country’s nuclear program."
Iran has consistently and irreversibly distanced itself from the unconventional weapons on religious and humanitarian grounds. Tehran’s stance in the area has been sealed by a religious decree issued by Ayatollah Khamenei.
By “threatening the world,” Pompeo was apparently referring to retaliatory steps that Iran began to take in 2018 to gradually reverse its commitments under a nuclear agreement with world powers.
The agreement itself, which is known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has allowed Iran to take such countermeasures in case of non-commitment by the other signatories. Tehran only initiated the reprisal after the US illegally left the JCPOA and the Washington-allied members of the nuclear deal suspended their trade with Iran under the White House’s pressure."
Iran, Saudis to invest most in next 24-year gas projects: Group
Tuesday, 13 October 2020 12:58 PM
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/10/13/636295/gas-investment-Iran-Saudi-Arabia-Iraq-electricity-sanctions-
"Iran and Saudi Arabia are set to see the most investment in natural gas projects in the Middle East, Arab Petroleum Investments Corp (Apicorp) says.
Overall, investment in natural gas projects will rise across the Middle East and North Africa where around $211 billion will be spent to expand output between 2020 and 2024, the lender projected in a report Monday.
“Iran and Saudi Arabia are set to see the most activity, with almost $90 billion of planned and committed investment between them by 2024,” Bloomberg reported, quoting Apicorp.
The world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), Qatar, will spend $22 billion even as the battle to secure LNG buyers will become “fiercer” over the next two or three years.
International energy agencies in the West say the coronavirus pandemic is on course to dampen demand for fossil fuels.
In the Middle East, while governments are cutting oil-related investments, they are lining up new gas projects as a more eco-friendly alternative to produce electricity.
According to Apicorp chief economist Leila Benali, some producers may opt to consume more gas at home if prices continue to remain low.
“The key question is how you monetize the gas -- whether you export it or consume it domestically,” she told Bloomberg.
Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said recently that more than 95 percent of all households in Iran would have access to natural gas once the current administrative government leaves office in August 2021.
"Iran and Saudi Arabia are set to see the most investment in natural gas projects in the Middle East, Arab Petroleum Investments Corp (Apicorp) says.
Overall, investment in natural gas projects will rise across the Middle East and North Africa where around $211 billion will be spent to expand output between 2020 and 2024, the lender projected in a report Monday.
“Iran and Saudi Arabia are set to see the most activity, with almost $90 billion of planned and committed investment between them by 2024,” Bloomberg reported, quoting Apicorp.
The world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), Qatar, will spend $22 billion even as the battle to secure LNG buyers will become “fiercer” over the next two or three years.
International energy agencies in the West say the coronavirus pandemic is on course to dampen demand for fossil fuels.
In the Middle East, while governments are cutting oil-related investments, they are lining up new gas projects as a more eco-friendly alternative to produce electricity.
According to Apicorp chief economist Leila Benali, some producers may opt to consume more gas at home if prices continue to remain low.
“The key question is how you monetize the gas -- whether you export it or consume it domestically,” she told Bloomberg.
Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said recently that more than 95 percent of all households in Iran would have access to natural gas once the current administrative government leaves office in August 2021.
Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh attends an event at his ministry in Tehran, Oct. 13, 2020. (Photo by Shana)
With more than 34 trillion cubic meters under its belt, Iran owns the world’s largest natural gas reserves but its share of the global trade in gas is less than one percent. Economists say natural gas will be the main fuel in the next 20 to 30 years.
Iran has significantly boosted production in recent years despite sanctions imposed by the United States on the country’s energy sector.
Growing production has become possible thanks to massive development plans in the sprawling South Pares gas field, the world’s largest gas reserve which is shared between Iran and Qatar in the Persian Gulf.
On Tuesday, Zangeneh said the outbreak of the coronavirus did not halt Iran’s oil production for even one day, the Ministry of Petroleum’s Shana news outlet reported.
Zangeneh touched on his ministry’s measures to maintain production and protect its personnel.
"The Ministry of Petroleum was one of the first bodies to take the lead due to the sensitivity of its activities and the impossibility of shutting down oil activities," he said.
“If oil and gas are not produced, electricity and water will not be produced either,” Zangeneh said.
According to the minister, Iran has overtaken Qatar in recovering gas from South Pars, which is being vacuumed up at a “high speed”. This pace of discharge means production is about to decline soon, he said in February.
“In South Pars, we had a very splendid performance, where our production rose from 280 million cubic meters in 2014 to 670 million cubic meters this year, which is 2.4 times higher,” he said.
Officials say Iran’s total gas production is set to break through one billion cubic meters per day by next year. Total consumption by households normally hits record highs of 600 mcm a day during the winter.
For now, Iran’s only major gas customers are Turkey and Iraq. The deal with Turkey dates back to 1996, meaning it is not targeted by sanctions.
But the Islamic Republic cannot easily repatriate its funds from Iraq where Iran’s money from exports of gas and electricity was once said to have piled up to $5 billion in a bank account.
Head of the Central Bank of Iran Abdolnaser Hemmati traveled to Baghdad Monday, announcing later in the day that an agreement had been reached with Iraqi officials to unlock Iranian funds.
The deal, he said, allows Iran to use accumulated payments from energy exports to buy essential goods from Iraq.
Iraq relies on Iran for natural gas that generates as much as 45% of its electricity. Iran transmits another 1,200 megawatts directly, making itself an indispensable energy source for its Arab neighbor, but the United States is trying to pry Baghdad away from Tehran’s orbit"
With more than 34 trillion cubic meters under its belt, Iran owns the world’s largest natural gas reserves but its share of the global trade in gas is less than one percent. Economists say natural gas will be the main fuel in the next 20 to 30 years.
Iran has significantly boosted production in recent years despite sanctions imposed by the United States on the country’s energy sector.
Growing production has become possible thanks to massive development plans in the sprawling South Pares gas field, the world’s largest gas reserve which is shared between Iran and Qatar in the Persian Gulf.
On Tuesday, Zangeneh said the outbreak of the coronavirus did not halt Iran’s oil production for even one day, the Ministry of Petroleum’s Shana news outlet reported.
Zangeneh touched on his ministry’s measures to maintain production and protect its personnel.
"The Ministry of Petroleum was one of the first bodies to take the lead due to the sensitivity of its activities and the impossibility of shutting down oil activities," he said.
“If oil and gas are not produced, electricity and water will not be produced either,” Zangeneh said.
According to the minister, Iran has overtaken Qatar in recovering gas from South Pars, which is being vacuumed up at a “high speed”. This pace of discharge means production is about to decline soon, he said in February.
“In South Pars, we had a very splendid performance, where our production rose from 280 million cubic meters in 2014 to 670 million cubic meters this year, which is 2.4 times higher,” he said.
Officials say Iran’s total gas production is set to break through one billion cubic meters per day by next year. Total consumption by households normally hits record highs of 600 mcm a day during the winter.
For now, Iran’s only major gas customers are Turkey and Iraq. The deal with Turkey dates back to 1996, meaning it is not targeted by sanctions.
But the Islamic Republic cannot easily repatriate its funds from Iraq where Iran’s money from exports of gas and electricity was once said to have piled up to $5 billion in a bank account.
Head of the Central Bank of Iran Abdolnaser Hemmati traveled to Baghdad Monday, announcing later in the day that an agreement had been reached with Iraqi officials to unlock Iranian funds.
The deal, he said, allows Iran to use accumulated payments from energy exports to buy essential goods from Iraq.
Iraq relies on Iran for natural gas that generates as much as 45% of its electricity. Iran transmits another 1,200 megawatts directly, making itself an indispensable energy source for its Arab neighbor, but the United States is trying to pry Baghdad away from Tehran’s orbit"
"The US has been enlisting its companies and allies such as Saudi Arabia to replace Iran as Iraq’s source of energy.
Officials in Baghdad have said there is no easy substitute to imports from Iran because it will take years to adequately build up Iraq’s energy infrastructure.
They have said American demand acknowledges neither Iraq’s energy needs nor the complex relations between Baghdad and Tehran.
In addition to natural gas and electricity, Iraq imports a wide range of goods from Iran including food, agricultural products, home appliances, and air conditioners."
Tuesday, 20 October 2020 1:21 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 20 October 2020 3:50 PM ]
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/10/20/636815/Iran-gold-reserves-discovery-steel
Iran has made a gold discovery in southeast Sistan and Baluchestan province, where definite reserves of 8 tonnes of the precious metal have been found, a provincial official says.
“The discovered gold mine in Sistan and Baluchestan is one of the economic mines of the country that was recently identified and after a long time, its exploration and survey stages were completed and the license for exploration of the mine with a definite reserves of eight tonnes of gold was issued,” the province’s under-secretary for economic affairs Mandana Zanganeh said.
“For exploration, the call for attracting investors will be published by the end of Mehr (on Wednesday), so that the capacities of this zone can be used for the economic prosperity of the region and creation of jobs,” Tasnim news agency quoted her as saying.
Zanganeh called Sistan and Baluchestan the “mineral rainbow” of Iran, where there are some of the most economic mines with reserves of antimony, titanium, copper and gold.
The copper mine is one of the high-grade prospects discovered in the province, which is in the phase of exploratory studies about to be completed by the end of the current Persian year in March 2021, she added.
“The copper reserves identified at the mine are expected to reach 400 million tonnes, but this amount can increase significantly after the exploration is completed.”
According to Zanganeh, about 60 percent of Sistan and Baluchestan has been surveyed in recent years and up to 200 mineral prospects have been identified.
“Studies on large antimony, titanium, copper and gold mining projects, which are among the country's economic mines, have been completed or are in progress and will be completed by the end of the year,” she added.
Zanganeh said major companies have announced readiness to invest and establish mineral processing industries in the province.
Sistan and Baluchestan is home to a titanium mine, with officials saying in the past that more than $4.2 billion of investment was needed to bring it fully online.
Fanuj is estimated to sit on 3.6 billion tonnes of titanium ore reserves. It includes a cluster of 30 deposits, each able to yield 1 million tonnes of titanium ore per year.
Titanium is the strategic metal of the century, named after the powerful Titan gods in Greek mythology. Because of its strength, light weight and corrosion resistance, the metal is highly prized in aircraft manufacturing, with further applications in military, aerospace, marine industries, dental implants and industrial processes.
According to provincial officials, more than 80 mines of titanium, iron ore and copper have also been explored in Fanuj.
Last month, Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade's Dariush Esmaeili told a mining forum in Tehran that Iran has identified 1,000 promising gold prospects, and that “gold in Iran will play a role similar to steel”.
The country is a leading producer of steel in the world, with officials saying exports continue despite the US sanctions. It plans to raise steel output to 55 million tonnes a year by 2025, of which 20 to 25 million tonnes would be earmarked for export.
According to officials, possible gold bearing zones have been identified in 21 provinces across Iran. The country’s proven gold reserves are currently estimated at 340 tonnes lying in 24 mines. However, with extensive prospecting this figure is thought to rise much higher.
Iran’s gold production capacity is put at more than 9 million tonnes a year. The Zarshuran gold complex in Takab is one of the most important mineral prospects, estimated to hold 110 tonnes of reserves. Aq Darreh, also in Takab, operates with 2.2 tonnes of gold a year.
With its sprawling petroleum industry under a strict sanctions regime which has cut revenues, the country is beginning to take stock of its other resources and mining is emerging as a new field which Iran can count on for revenue generation.
Iran has launched a pilot project for extraction of rare earth after obtaining the technology for deep-level mining, a senior official says.
However, the extractives industry is underdeveloped and mineral products account for only 0.6 percent of the GDP in a country which holds about 7 percent of the world's proven mineral reserves estimated at 60 billion tonnes, including 68 types of minerals.
That is because oil has been the primary source of foreign currency for decades which has relegated other industries to the fringes.
The mining sector holds a key advantage over the oil industry: it is much harder to sanction the mining industry because of its immense diversity. From extremely sensitive radioactive materials to such ordinary substances as lime, the sector includes as many as 120 elements.
According to Deputy Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade Mehdi Karbasian, there is a great variety of materials in mining sector and the variety of consumers and producers of the materials is much greater than that of petroleum products.
At current rates, Iran’s mineral reserves are worth $700 billion, but officials say the real figure is much higher, which will be achieved with more exploration.
Assuming that the value of Iran's mineral reserves is at least $700 billion, their added value would be $4 trillion, Karbasian said in August."
However, the extractives industry is underdeveloped and mineral products account for only 0.6 percent of the GDP in a country which holds about 7 percent of the world's proven mineral reserves estimated at 60 billion tonnes, including 68 types of minerals.
That is because oil has been the primary source of foreign currency for decades which has relegated other industries to the fringes.
The mining sector holds a key advantage over the oil industry: it is much harder to sanction the mining industry because of its immense diversity. From extremely sensitive radioactive materials to such ordinary substances as lime, the sector includes as many as 120 elements.
According to Deputy Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade Mehdi Karbasian, there is a great variety of materials in mining sector and the variety of consumers and producers of the materials is much greater than that of petroleum products.
At current rates, Iran’s mineral reserves are worth $700 billion, but officials say the real figure is much higher, which will be achieved with more exploration.
Assuming that the value of Iran's mineral reserves is at least $700 billion, their added value would be $4 trillion, Karbasian said in August."
Iran obtains technology to turn methanol to propylene
Thursday, 24 September 2020 4:29 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 24 September 2020 4:29 PM ]
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/24/634935/Iran-petrochemical-technology-methanol-to-propylene
"Iran’s petrochemical industry has attained a major achievement by obtaining the know-how to turn methanol into propylene (MPT), a technology which authorities say was previously ring-fenced by two countries.
The development came on Thursday during the inauguration of a semi-industrial petchem plant in southern Iranian port city of Mahshahr where some 120,000 metric tons of propylene will be produced each year from methanol and independently of the original feedstock.
Seyyed Omid Shahidinia, a local Oil Ministry official said during the inauguration ceremony that the commercial use of MPT had been monopolized by two countries which he would not identify.
“(they) would not let us have the technology due to the sanctions, and now Iran is the third country which has obtained this technical expertise,” said Shahidinia, making a reference to American sanctions that have sought to hamper Iran’s efforts to develop its energy sector.
Concurrent with the inauguration, Oil Ministry officials in Tehran awarded a contract to Fateh Petrochemicals for commercial use of MPT in Iran.
Iran petchem output rises by 6% y/y in August despite forecasts
The contract, which is related to the petchem plant in Mahshahr, would enable Iran to significantly increase its propylene output in the upcoming years, according to Behzad Mohammadi, a deputy oil minister and CEO of Ian’s largest company in the sector, namely the National Petrochemical Company (NPC).
Mohammadi said Iran had eyed a propylene output of two million tons per year for 2025 but he insisted that the figure would increase to 4 million tons by 2026 through implementing various schemes including the use of MTP technology.
The senior official said Iran’s current propylene output is nearly one million tons per year, adding that total production capacity for all petrochemical products has reached around 70 million tons per year.
Mohammadi said actual petchem output in Iran reached 30 million tons worth $15 billion in the year to March 2020 of which some $10 billion worth of products were sold to foreign customers"
The development came on Thursday during the inauguration of a semi-industrial petchem plant in southern Iranian port city of Mahshahr where some 120,000 metric tons of propylene will be produced each year from methanol and independently of the original feedstock.
Seyyed Omid Shahidinia, a local Oil Ministry official said during the inauguration ceremony that the commercial use of MPT had been monopolized by two countries which he would not identify.
“(they) would not let us have the technology due to the sanctions, and now Iran is the third country which has obtained this technical expertise,” said Shahidinia, making a reference to American sanctions that have sought to hamper Iran’s efforts to develop its energy sector.
Concurrent with the inauguration, Oil Ministry officials in Tehran awarded a contract to Fateh Petrochemicals for commercial use of MPT in Iran.
Iran petchem output rises by 6% y/y in August despite forecasts
The contract, which is related to the petchem plant in Mahshahr, would enable Iran to significantly increase its propylene output in the upcoming years, according to Behzad Mohammadi, a deputy oil minister and CEO of Ian’s largest company in the sector, namely the National Petrochemical Company (NPC).
Mohammadi said Iran had eyed a propylene output of two million tons per year for 2025 but he insisted that the figure would increase to 4 million tons by 2026 through implementing various schemes including the use of MTP technology.
The senior official said Iran’s current propylene output is nearly one million tons per year, adding that total production capacity for all petrochemical products has reached around 70 million tons per year.
Mohammadi said actual petchem output in Iran reached 30 million tons worth $15 billion in the year to March 2020 of which some $10 billion worth of products were sold to foreign customers"
Over $1bn worth of Iranian petrochemical plants come on line
Thursday, 24 December 2020 6:43 PM
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/12/24/641448/Iran-petrochemical-plants-inauguration-Rouhani
"Photo published on December 24, 2020 shows a view to installations at Ilam Petrochemical Complex where a major olefin unit came on line earlier in the day."
"The Iranian government has launched three large petrochemical plants with over $1 billion in new investment as the country pushes ahead with plans to diversify the oil and gas sector by manufacturing more valuable products.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani used a video conference call on Thursday to inaugurate the three plants in the provinces of Ilam, Hamedan and West Azerbaijan, all in western Iran.
The official IRNA news agency said the projects had cost 280 trillion rials ($1.06 billion) in government and private investment.
The largest of the three was the olefin unit at Ilam Petrochemical Complex, a mega project where the annual output of various products, including ethylene, propylene and pyrolysis gasoline is expected to reach 750,000 metric tons.
Total investment spent on the olefin plant and its desulfurization facility has amounted to 866 million euros, said the IRNA report, adding that the project, known as the 13th Olefin in Iran, was a first in western Iran where the oil industry has a relatively low-key presence in underdeveloped regions like Ilam.
The Hegmataneh Petrochemicals, built just near the ancient city of Hamedan, also came on line on Thursday to become the first plant in the country manufacturing medical-grade plastics. Construction of the plant started nearly 17 years ago but it had stalled due to disputes between a local private investor, who owns nearly 57 percent of shares of the plant, and a government company with a 30-percent stake. The rest of shares in the factory is owned by an Italian company that has supplied the machinery.
A third new petchem project inaugurated by Rouhani on Thursday is located in the northwestern city of Urmia near the Turkish border. The plant is dedicated to production of potassium sulfate, a fertilizer widely used in industrial farming."
Agricultural independence secure despite US maximum pressure
Friday, 11 December 2020 7:06 AM
Friday, 11 December 2020 7:06 AM
"Despite innumerable US, UN and EU sanctions Iran has managed to maintain food security and agricultural independence."
"According to the FAO Iran, which it ranked ninth in terms of grain reserves, produced of 21.6 million tons of grain during the last crop year.
Achieving this rank while the country is suffering from a drought is commendable. With 17th place in terms of population in the world, Iran is in possession of 1.1 percent of the world's grain reserves.
Fortunately, during the four decades since the Islamic Republic was founded, we have been able to meet 80% of our agricultural needs and food, and we have the least dependence in this regard, especially on products such as wheat, we have managed to become relatively self-sufficient for some years. In the years when we faced drought, we met at least 80% of our wheat needs from the inside. The same was true for other strategic products. In the field of dairy products, rice, and some other strategic products, we have been able to achieve relative self-sufficiency and even managed to export 5 to 6 billion dollars a year in various agricultural products."
"The wheat harvest actually decreased by 500,000 tons in the last crop year, however, the rice harvest has increased by 200,000 tons. The production of other grains grew by 200,000 tons. Wheat, barley and rice are the mainstay of the Iranian diet.
Unfortunately, we are over 70% dependent on inputs. This is not called strategic agriculture for a country, when we have to import seeds, when we have to import pesticides and fertilizer to a large extent. We have to import livestock and fish feed inputs. This means incomplete and improper planning in the field of agriculture."
"FAO, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, has estimated the area under wheat cultivation in Iran will increase slightly in 2020. The area under cultivation is around 6 million hectares.The country comprises 14% arable land, 8% forest, 55% natural (non-arable) pastures and 23% desert.
One of the major projects undertaken in the Islamic Republic was the Agricultural Development Project, which we have been pursuing since 2010. We provided 9-trillion tomans of cheap credits and facilities to farmers, and we also helped new investors to invest in various fields with low-interest facilities."
"Unfortunately, Iran has a very small share in the global agricultural market, which is also a lucrative one. This is because, unfortunately, we have not and still do not have an integrated trade policy system based on the model of a resistive economy. I will mention some of the problems here on a case-by-case basis. One is the problems of the bureaucracy. The second is the lack of coordination between the organs. We don’t have a specific body that is responsible for the export of agricultural products."
"We are at the crossroads of the North-South and East-West trade corridors. This crossroads can be a special place for us in exporting products that are cultivated and created through investment in our country. Energy is abundant in this country. We have a lot of renewable energy. In addition to being one of the world's leading oil and gas producers and having huge reserves, we have renewable energy that can be used organically without generating pollution and with the lowest pollution costs to serve production and investment. We also have a large and young workforce."
"The Qanat irrigated agricultural systems made Iran the most fertile area in the history of Asia. There was once mass production of grains, as well as sugarcane, and date palm.
Qanats are underground tunnel systems that bring infiltrated groundwater, surface water, or spring water to the earth's surface using only gravitational force. Qanats have been used for irrigation and drinking water for centuries worldwide, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa and Central and West Asia."
"Iran's wheat yield reached 14 million tons in 2004, making Iran self sufficient in wheat ending 45 years of wheat imports, saving $1 billion a year in overseas purchases.
Iran may have lost the European market, in spite of the high quality of its exports, however, it is still exporting to countries such as Iraq, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan.
Apart from pistachio and saffron, of which Iran is the world's biggest producer, exports of other agricultural commodities, such as dates, apples, milk and vegetables, are not economically viable for Iranian exporters."
"Our Ministry of Industry, Mining, and Trade is structured so that it’s more willing to import in this regard. The desire to import is extremely high. The interests of many traders dominating the country's markets and product supply hinder the development of exports. There are some brokers who are mainly looking for imports because that’s how they generate money. Being able to attain licensing for import and export is a public right. It must not be given to a select few. Licenses must be granted to productive cooperatives."
"The share of the agriculture sector in Iran's non-petroleum gross domestic product (GDP) reached 8.8 percent in the previous Iranian calendar year, which began March 21st, an increase of 3 percent over 7 years."
"The other thing is sanctions because these sanctions motivates or forces us to do everything ourselves."
"We have no choice but to invest in technology and knowledge-based institutions. The sanctions target both our foreign investment and our ability to import the technology we need. The solution is to take steps similar to other countries that have been sanctioned and threatened. They have relied on domestic resources and not on capital and technology coming from abroad."
"The FAO has implemented a TCP project in Iran to assist the country in rehabilitating the soil and water resources and enhancing the resilience of agriculture system and rural communities against climate change and climatic disasters.
To replenish two important water resources, the regions of Qazvin Plain (Qazvin Irrigation Network) and the Urmia Lake Basin, Water Accounting and mapping Evapotranspiration is a prerequisite.
Water accounting is the process of collecting, analysing, summarizing and reporting water related information. It reveals how water is used across different sectors and helps in understanding the benefits and existing trade-off of the water allocations and use patterns. And the integrated and cross sectional presentation of the information in water accounting helps the users (decision-makers) to see the bigger picture."
"Armed with a degree in Agricultural Engineering, zest and much perseverance, our “farmer” has fully mechanized his plantation.
In lots of aspects they are different. One of them we have seven meters height, and even everything is controlled by the smart climate control system which helps us to use less people to help us and we are doing this kind of things by hand in other greenhouses. But here everything is automatic."
"The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is holding an eLearning program in Iran to equip experts with the knowledge and skills to implement REWAS the advanced approach of Real Water Savings (REWAS).
REWAS uses the concept of ‘following the water’, under this concept, drainage, runoff and percolation of groundwater are no longer considered ‘losses,’ because downstream users often use these recoverable waters."
Iran's first export consignment arrives in Afghanistan via long-awaited railroad
Wednesday, 02 December 2020 11:44 PM
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/12/02/639876/Afghanistan-herat-railway-export-goods
The first consignment of Iranian export goods has arrived in Afghanistan through the long-awaited Khaf-Herat railroad, which is slated to be officially inaugurated in coming days.
The cement shipment was transferred from Iran to Afghanistan's Herat via rail, according to Jilani Farhad, the spokesman for Herat governor.
The consignment was reportedly dispatched on a trial basis to identify possible problems and challenges on that route.
The Afghan spokesman said the railroad, which is to be opened in less than 10 days by the two countries’ high-ranking officials, will connect Afghanistan to Asian and European countries through Iran.
The railroad project is composed of four sections: one from Khaf to Sangan in Iran and the second one from Sangan to the Chah-Sorkh border crossing, each of which is 76 km long, according to the Afghan spokesman.
Farhad said the third part, 62 km long, extends from Chah-Sorkh to Afghanistan's Rozanak (or Rahzanak).
"These three sections have all been funded by Iran," he said.
The final part of the project, which has long been touted as the sole viable option to build Afghanistan’s economy, stretches all the way from Rozanak to Herat.
A group of people watching the arrival of the train said they were "very happy to see a train in their place of living for the first time ever."
They said they would "wholeheartedly" cooperate with Afghan security forces to ensure the security of the raildroad and the export consignments, as the railroad will definitely improve the economic conditions of Afghan people.
Afghanistan has almost no functioning railways, where there is less than 25 km of track in the entire country. The Afghan section of the Khaf-Herat railway built with Iran includes 114 km of track which will open a new chapter in domestic freight and passenger transportation. It will reduce the cost of moving goods across the region to a fraction of that of highway transport.
The railway will stretch to Chabahar in southeastern Iran, boosting Afghanistan’s trade and bringing in its mining sector from the cold to exploit billions of dollars in untapped mineral reserves.
High ranking officials from Iran and Afghanistan will gather at their joint border to open the line by the end of the current Iranian month in about two weeks, Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami said last week.
“With the opening of the railway line and the possibility of transporting goods by train between Iran and Afghanistan, easier conditions have been created for the transportation of goods, so we hope that this development will have positive effects on trade between the two countries,” head of Iran-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce Hossein Salimi said Tuesday.
Afghanistan counts days for milestone opening of Iran railway linkA 200 km railway line, long touted as the sole viable option to build Afghanistan’s economy, will come to operation in the next couple of weeks, connecting the Afghan city of Herat to Mashhad in Iran.
According to Salimi, Iran’s exports to Afghanistan are estimated to reach $2.7 billion by the end of the current Persian year in March 2021.
Afghanistan remains one of the world’s poorest countries, some 19 years after the US invasion. Its main products are dried and fresh fruits, and carpets, which amount to a fraction of illegal opium estimated at some $2 billion by the International Monetary Fund.
Gold, silver and platinum are some of the precious elements identified in Afghanistan but the country has also been labeled as the potential “Saudi Arabia of lithium”, the raw material used in phone and electric car batteries.
Furthermore, the country has significant quantities of iron ore, uranium, zinc, tantalum, bauxite, coal, natural gas and copper which is increasingly becoming rare across the globe.
Projects such as the railway through Iran is believed to put a major dent in the illicit opium trade and reduce Afghanistan's reliance on foreign aid which is tied to heavy deployment of troops from the US, Europe and elsewhere.
Landlocked countries have always tried to access open seas. Afghanistan’s neighbors have indicated an interest in linking with the Khaf-Herat railway line to send cargoes to and from Iran’s Persian Gulf ports.
Uzbekistan and Afghanistan have signed an agreement to extend a railroad connecting the two countries to eventually give Uzbekistan a direct link to sea ports. Tashkent is interested in extending that line to Herat for a gateway to Iran.
Tajikistan also wants to construct a railway through Afghanistan to Iran and build an “energy line” across the three countries to supply Iranian oil products and gas, as well as to link the electricity grids of the three countries.
Iran and Afghanistan share historical and cultural ties and Iran has been hosting millions of Afghan refugees and immigrants who fled the Soviet–Afghan war, its ensuing civil war, and the US war in Afghanistan.
The Islamic Republic has also spent millions of dollars on development and reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. It has built hundreds of kilometers of highway, and railroad and dams over the last eight years, paving the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road."
Iran launches $3.4bn refinery to collect gas flares from oil fields
Thursday, 21 January 2021 1:53 PM
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/01/21/643535/Iran-launches--3-4bn-refinery-to-collect-gas-flares-from-oil-fields
"The Persian Gulf Bidboland Gas Refinery, a mega-project launched in the southwestern city of Behbahan, came on line on Thursday upon an order by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani who used a video conference call to open the facility.
Construction of the refinery began in 2015. It has cost $3.4 billion, of which $2.3 billion has come from Iran’s sovereign wealth fund. Some 15,000 people contributed to the construction process which included works for over 1,000 kilometers of pipelines to collect flares from oilfields in three southern provinces of Khuzestan, Bushehr and Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad.
Bidboland’s CEO Mahmoud Aminnejad said that the refinery, the largest of its kind in West Asia region, was a first petroleum industry project in Iran’s history whose construction ended without a single fatality.
Aminnejad said the refinery creates 1,100 permanent jobs, most of them reserved for local engineers and workers.
He said a first phase of the project will collect associated gas from crude production in East Karun oil region to produce some 2 billion cubic feet (nearly 57 million cubic meters) of useful gases per day. A second phase of the project will be dedicated to gases normally flared at West Karun oil region, he said.
Bidboland’s output includes 10.4 million metric tons a year (mt/y) of methane, a sweet gas used for household and industrial consumption, 1.5 mt/y of ethane, used as feed for petchem plants in southern Iran, and 1.5 mt/y of propane and butane, products normally sold to foreign customers. Other products include acid gas for the purpose of injection into oil wells to boost their production as well as gas condensates.
President Hassan Rouhani hailed Bidboland as a huge achievement for Iran at the time of increased US pressure, saying its inauguration just a day after former US President Donald Trump left office was a sign that his ominous plans for the Iranians had failed for good.
“This huge project is inaugurated on a day when those who claimed they will defeat Iran through racketeering were annihilated with disgrace and shame,” said Rouhani."
India finally supplies first batch of port operation equipment to Iran’s Chabahar
Sunday, 17 January 2021 4:39 PM
"“The imported equipment will be used for loading and unloading services for goods in the first phase of development plan for Shahid Beheshti port,” said Behrouz Aghayi, local head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) in the southeastern province of Sistan and Balochestan, on Sunday.
Chabahar is Iran’s only ocean port where the government has launched an ambitious investment plan to turn the location into a major hub of trade between the Indian Ocean and landlocked countries to the east and north of Iran.
India has been a partner in development plans for Chabahar, especially in efforts to build out its large container processing facility dubbed Shahir Beheshti.
Citing American sanctions on Iran as a barrier, India has repeatedly delayed the supply of investment and equipment to Chabahar. That has caused Iran to award contracts for development projects to either local companies or major firms from other countries.
Aghayi said the two gantry cranes supplied by the Indians are worth $8.5 million, adding that the Indian government has a commitment to invest $85 million in Chabahar as part of a build–operate–transfer agreement with the PMO.
He said domestic and other foreign investors would be welcome to launch investment and development projects in Chabahar.
“Investment by one country does not bar the contribution of other countries to development plans at Chabahar port,” the official was quoted by local news agencies."
Iran hits milestone of 1 billion cubic meters in gas production
Tuesday, 09 February 2021 8:13 AM
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/09/644874/Iran-gas-production-record-US-sanctions
Iran produced a total of 267 billion cubic meters of gas in 2020.
Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zanganeh says Iran’s gas production has hit the record high above 1 billion cubic meters a day, a milestone reached three years after the US imposed its most draconian sanctions ever on the Islamic Republic.
Zanganeh was speaking fresh from a three-day petrochemical conference in Tehran where he said gas production has hit 1.04 billion cubic meters a day, up from 670 million cubic meters in early 2020.
US sanctions have discouraged international energy companies from dealing with Iran, but they have also provided a rare chance for domestic firms to venture into a setting known to be an exclusive specialty of the elite club of companies.
When French oil and energy company Total ended participation in Phase 11 of Iran’s giant South Pars gas field in 2018, China's state-owned energy major CNPC was said to be ready to take over the stake but the company also suspended investment in response to US pressure.
In January 2020, Zanganeh finally announced that Iran’s Petropars would develop Phase 11 of the world’s largest gas field. Drilling work on the first well of the phase began in December.
Phase 11 is the largest of 28 phases of South Pars which currently produces 70 percent of natural gas consumed by Iranian households.
Iran is faced with runaway energy consumption encouraged by massive subsidies provided by the government which is in a race against time to catch up with the rising demand.
Last month, Zanganeh chided residents in Tehran –a megacity of 12 million – over a 15 percent rise in gas consumption.
“The highest fuel consumption in the country is in homes, and I think this is because people think that if they leave the windows open, the corona will go away. Authorities should tell people to close the windows and lower the temperature,” he said.
Dozens of cities across Iran have faced power outages since early January, with social media and news outlets wildly speculating that they might have been caused by bitcoin farms, which they claim, are mostly operated by Chinese companies.
State officials, however, say power used in bitcoin mining is not too high to cause nationwide outages.
The natural gas is the major fuel used to generate electricity in Iran. Historically, the supply of low-cost electricity is a way to grow economies, increase populations and improve the quality of life.
Many producers in Iran are currently reaping the windfall from a record devaluation of the national currency, the rial, to ramp up production and increase exports.
Last year, Iran produced a total of 267 billion cubic meters of gas, averaging 725 million cubic meters a day.
According to Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company Hassan Montazer-Torbati, Iran’s total gas production will hit 500 billion cubic meters in 2041.
Iran produced a total of 267 billion cubic meters of gas in 2020.
Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zanganeh says Iran’s gas production has hit the record high above 1 billion cubic meters a day, a milestone reached three years after the US imposed its most draconian sanctions ever on the Islamic Republic.
Zanganeh was speaking fresh from a three-day petrochemical conference in Tehran where he said gas production has hit 1.04 billion cubic meters a day, up from 670 million cubic meters in early 2020.
US sanctions have discouraged international energy companies from dealing with Iran, but they have also provided a rare chance for domestic firms to venture into a setting known to be an exclusive specialty of the elite club of companies.
When French oil and energy company Total ended participation in Phase 11 of Iran’s giant South Pars gas field in 2018, China's state-owned energy major CNPC was said to be ready to take over the stake but the company also suspended investment in response to US pressure.
In January 2020, Zanganeh finally announced that Iran’s Petropars would develop Phase 11 of the world’s largest gas field. Drilling work on the first well of the phase began in December.
Phase 11 is the largest of 28 phases of South Pars which currently produces 70 percent of natural gas consumed by Iranian households.
Iran is faced with runaway energy consumption encouraged by massive subsidies provided by the government which is in a race against time to catch up with the rising demand.
Last month, Zanganeh chided residents in Tehran –a megacity of 12 million – over a 15 percent rise in gas consumption.
“The highest fuel consumption in the country is in homes, and I think this is because people think that if they leave the windows open, the corona will go away. Authorities should tell people to close the windows and lower the temperature,” he said.
Dozens of cities across Iran have faced power outages since early January, with social media and news outlets wildly speculating that they might have been caused by bitcoin farms, which they claim, are mostly operated by Chinese companies.
State officials, however, say power used in bitcoin mining is not too high to cause nationwide outages.
The natural gas is the major fuel used to generate electricity in Iran. Historically, the supply of low-cost electricity is a way to grow economies, increase populations and improve the quality of life.
Many producers in Iran are currently reaping the windfall from a record devaluation of the national currency, the rial, to ramp up production and increase exports.
Last year, Iran produced a total of 267 billion cubic meters of gas, averaging 725 million cubic meters a day.
According to Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company Hassan Montazer-Torbati, Iran’s total gas production will hit 500 billion cubic meters in 2041.
Iran rolls out massive petroleum projects worth $2.7bn
Monday, 01 March 2021 2:13 PM
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/03/01/646328/Iran-petroleum-projects-inauguration-Rouhani
"Rouhani’s website said the government had spent 1.441 billion euros ($1.74 billion) to ramp up oil production in Azar Oilfield, a reserve Iran shares with neighboring Iraq, to 65,000 barrels per day.
Iranian engineers have carried out a bulk of development works in Azar, located in the province of Ilam, where operations had stalled in recent years because of US sanctions on Iran.
Rouhani hailed Iranian engineers and technicians for successfully drilling oil wells in Azar that some of them had a depth of 4,800 meters."
Victory for Iran: India nears completion of Chabahar
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/03/23/647937/India-investment-Chabahar-port-
Tuesday, 23 March 2021 7:38 PM
Tuesday, 23 March 2021 7:38 PM
Two Mobile Harbor Cranes (MHC), each weighing 100 tonnes, arrived at Shahid Beheshti port of Chabahar on Sunday, March 21, 2021.
"The second batch of equipment supplied by India has reached Chabahar, Iranian and Indian officials say, bringing New Delhi closer to full operation of the two terminals which it is developing in the port.
India has been developing a part of Chabahar on Iran’s southeastern coast along the Gulf of Oman in order to expand trade with Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asian nations.
Two Mobile Harbor Cranes (MHC), each weighing 100 tonnes, arrived in the port Sunday, more than a month after the first consignment of two 140-tonne MHCs was supplied.
"Continuing with our commitment to develop Chabahar Port, second shipment of equipment reaches Shahid Behesti Terminal," India’s Ports Shipping and Waterways Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted Monday."
"Two more rail-mounted cranes will be delivered in the next few weeks. The six cranes have been built by Italian firm Italgru under a $25 million contract signed last year.
India had initially awarded the contract to Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries, but the country cancelled it last year because of delays by the Chinese company in supplying the equipment ordered in 2017.
Under a trilateral contract signed with Iran and Afghanistan in May 2016, India is developing two berths at the Shahid Beheshti port of Chabahar with a total capital investment of $85 million and will operate them on a 10-year lease.
Indian officials expect to start full-scale operations at the terminals by the end of May. Earlier this month, Mandaviya said he expected to visit Iran in April or May for the inauguration of full operations.Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya poses for a picture after his interview with Reuters, at his office, in New Delhi, India, March 4, 2021.
The port commenced operations on a limited scale in December 2017. Last year, India used Chabahar to send 75,000 tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan and 25 tonnes of malathion pesticide to Iran to deal with a locust invasion.
According to the Indian minister, the port had handled 123 vessels and 1.8 million tonnes of bulk and general cargoes since February 2019.
“This is much higher than our expectations. Imagine the scale of operations and freight saving once it is fully operational,” he was quoted as saying this month.
Why is it so important to India?
India sees Chabahar as a stepping stone in its bid to become a regional infrastructure developer and expand trade with Afghanistan and other Central Asian states as well as the region beyond.
It has pledged to invest another $500 million in developing a free trade zone (FTZ) around Chabahar and build a $1.6 billion railway line some 600 km away to Zahedan, an Iranian city near the border of southwest Afghanistan.
Recently, New Delhi has proposed that Chabahar be included in the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), connecting Mumbai to Moscow through Iran.
The 7,200-km multimode route was proposed by Russia, Iran and India in 2000, before being joined by 10 Central Asian countries. It envisages a network of ship, rail and road for freight transport that will cut carriage costs by about 30-60% and transit time from 40 days to about 20 days."
"Hence, Chabahar is thought to play a crucial role in reducing dependency on the Suez Canal for transporting cargo to Europe.
Under the 2017 tripartite agreement, India has committed at least $21 billion to the corridor linking Chabahar to Hajigak in central Afghanistan where the rising economic power plans to plough $11 billion into an iron and steel mining project.
Development plans
Dating back to 2500 BC and first mentioned as the port of Tis during the invasion of Persia by Alexander of Macedon, Chabahar currently consists of two ports of Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti, each having five berths.
With the former being a traffic port, the Shahid Beheshti is being developed as a regional hub port. Since 2017, its capacity has expanded from 2 million tonnes per year to 8 million tonnes and is expected to hit 20 million tonnes once all development work is complete.
Under the May 2016 deal, India is refurbishing one of the berths at the Shahid Beheshti, and building a container handling facility at the port.
Iran currently relies on its port of Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf for 85% of its seaborne trade. Bandar Abbas is not a deep water port and cannot handle 250,000-tonne oceangoing cargo ships, making Iran dependent on UAE ports where such vessels dock for transfer of cargoes to smaller ships for onward shipment to Iran. This means a loss of revenue and provides a chokehold during the times of sanctions and political standoffs.
Chabahar will serve as Iran's first oceanic port, providing the gateway to Central Asia.
Challenges and Iran’s trump card
The desire to develop Chabahar in spite of enormous challenges indicates the recognition in both Iran and India of the crucial role which the project plays in their strategic priorities.
India views China’s attempt to redraw regional boundaries through its trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative with suspicion and tries to enhance its own regional connectivity profiles.
Iran, in contrast, has signaled its full dedication to the initiative which it sees as central to its bid to become a transport hub in the heart of Eurasia.
China is the largest foreign investor in Iran, having successfully completed a number of infrastructure projects in Iran including the Tehran metro. It is further providing $1.5 billion for the electrification of the Tehran-Mashhad railway line.
In 2016, the two countries announced their willingness to expand bilateral trade to $600 billion. Such an evolving closeness does not sit well with India which sees China as a rival.
Iran’s openness to Pakistani and Chinese participation in the development of Chabahar has also vexed India.
Moreover, India’s efforts to get a special concession for development of Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf have hit a brick wall, which has bedeviled investment plans.
Another detractor is the challenge which India has been facing in acquiring heavy equipment from foreign countries, mainly because of the reluctance of foreign banks to open letters of credit for a project in Iran, despite Chabahar port being granted a waiver from US sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Against so many odds, India’s completion of the project represents a key geoeconomic victory for Iran, which is likely to encourage other investors to abandon their qualms and engage the Islamic Republic in trade."
"The second batch of equipment supplied by India has reached Chabahar, Iranian and Indian officials say, bringing New Delhi closer to full operation of the two terminals which it is developing in the port.
India has been developing a part of Chabahar on Iran’s southeastern coast along the Gulf of Oman in order to expand trade with Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asian nations.
Two Mobile Harbor Cranes (MHC), each weighing 100 tonnes, arrived in the port Sunday, more than a month after the first consignment of two 140-tonne MHCs was supplied.
"Continuing with our commitment to develop Chabahar Port, second shipment of equipment reaches Shahid Behesti Terminal," India’s Ports Shipping and Waterways Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted Monday."
"Two more rail-mounted cranes will be delivered in the next few weeks. The six cranes have been built by Italian firm Italgru under a $25 million contract signed last year.
India had initially awarded the contract to Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries, but the country cancelled it last year because of delays by the Chinese company in supplying the equipment ordered in 2017.
Under a trilateral contract signed with Iran and Afghanistan in May 2016, India is developing two berths at the Shahid Beheshti port of Chabahar with a total capital investment of $85 million and will operate them on a 10-year lease.
Indian officials expect to start full-scale operations at the terminals by the end of May. Earlier this month, Mandaviya said he expected to visit Iran in April or May for the inauguration of full operations.Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya poses for a picture after his interview with Reuters, at his office, in New Delhi, India, March 4, 2021.
The port commenced operations on a limited scale in December 2017. Last year, India used Chabahar to send 75,000 tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan and 25 tonnes of malathion pesticide to Iran to deal with a locust invasion.
According to the Indian minister, the port had handled 123 vessels and 1.8 million tonnes of bulk and general cargoes since February 2019.
“This is much higher than our expectations. Imagine the scale of operations and freight saving once it is fully operational,” he was quoted as saying this month.
Why is it so important to India?
India sees Chabahar as a stepping stone in its bid to become a regional infrastructure developer and expand trade with Afghanistan and other Central Asian states as well as the region beyond.
It has pledged to invest another $500 million in developing a free trade zone (FTZ) around Chabahar and build a $1.6 billion railway line some 600 km away to Zahedan, an Iranian city near the border of southwest Afghanistan.
Recently, New Delhi has proposed that Chabahar be included in the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), connecting Mumbai to Moscow through Iran.
The 7,200-km multimode route was proposed by Russia, Iran and India in 2000, before being joined by 10 Central Asian countries. It envisages a network of ship, rail and road for freight transport that will cut carriage costs by about 30-60% and transit time from 40 days to about 20 days."
"Hence, Chabahar is thought to play a crucial role in reducing dependency on the Suez Canal for transporting cargo to Europe.
Under the 2017 tripartite agreement, India has committed at least $21 billion to the corridor linking Chabahar to Hajigak in central Afghanistan where the rising economic power plans to plough $11 billion into an iron and steel mining project.
Development plans
Dating back to 2500 BC and first mentioned as the port of Tis during the invasion of Persia by Alexander of Macedon, Chabahar currently consists of two ports of Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti, each having five berths.
With the former being a traffic port, the Shahid Beheshti is being developed as a regional hub port. Since 2017, its capacity has expanded from 2 million tonnes per year to 8 million tonnes and is expected to hit 20 million tonnes once all development work is complete.
Under the May 2016 deal, India is refurbishing one of the berths at the Shahid Beheshti, and building a container handling facility at the port.
Iran currently relies on its port of Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf for 85% of its seaborne trade. Bandar Abbas is not a deep water port and cannot handle 250,000-tonne oceangoing cargo ships, making Iran dependent on UAE ports where such vessels dock for transfer of cargoes to smaller ships for onward shipment to Iran. This means a loss of revenue and provides a chokehold during the times of sanctions and political standoffs.
Chabahar will serve as Iran's first oceanic port, providing the gateway to Central Asia.
Challenges and Iran’s trump card
The desire to develop Chabahar in spite of enormous challenges indicates the recognition in both Iran and India of the crucial role which the project plays in their strategic priorities.
India views China’s attempt to redraw regional boundaries through its trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative with suspicion and tries to enhance its own regional connectivity profiles.
Iran, in contrast, has signaled its full dedication to the initiative which it sees as central to its bid to become a transport hub in the heart of Eurasia.
China is the largest foreign investor in Iran, having successfully completed a number of infrastructure projects in Iran including the Tehran metro. It is further providing $1.5 billion for the electrification of the Tehran-Mashhad railway line.
In 2016, the two countries announced their willingness to expand bilateral trade to $600 billion. Such an evolving closeness does not sit well with India which sees China as a rival.
Iran’s openness to Pakistani and Chinese participation in the development of Chabahar has also vexed India.
Moreover, India’s efforts to get a special concession for development of Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf have hit a brick wall, which has bedeviled investment plans.
Another detractor is the challenge which India has been facing in acquiring heavy equipment from foreign countries, mainly because of the reluctance of foreign banks to open letters of credit for a project in Iran, despite Chabahar port being granted a waiver from US sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Against so many odds, India’s completion of the project represents a key geoeconomic victory for Iran, which is likely to encourage other investors to abandon their qualms and engage the Islamic Republic in trade."
Iran says North-South Corridor low-risk alternative to Suez Canal
Sunday, 28 March 2021 12:49 AM
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/03/28/648201/INSTC-Iran-corridor-India-Russia-Suez
"An Iranian diplomat says the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) can serve as a low-risk, profitable alternative to the Suez Canal, which has been blocked in the past few days, causing billions of dollars in damages every day.
Kazem Jalali, the Iranian ambassador to Moscow, tweeted on Saturday that the INSTC can reduce the travel time [from India to Europe] to 20 days and decrease the costs by 30 percent.
“Therefore, it is a superior option to replace the Suez Canal in transit,” Jalali added.
He said the recent shutdown of the Suez Canal caused by the stranded ship Evergreen indicates that an alternative with a lower level of risk must be considered given the traffic of over one billion tons of goods through the vital waterway.
Iran, together with India and Russia, is pushing forward with the sea and rail corridor that could substantially reduce the time and cost of shipping goods from India to Europe.
The 7,200-km multimode route was proposed by the three countries in 2000, before being joined by 10 Central Asian countries. It envisages a network of ship, rail and road for freight transport that will cut carriage costs by about 30-60% and transit time from 40 days to about 20 days.
The Iranian port city of Chabahar is thought to play a crucial role in reducing dependency on the Suez Canal for transporting cargo to Europe.
Under the 2017 tripartite agreement, India has committed at least $21 billion to the corridor linking Chabahar to Hajigak in central Afghanistan.
The corridor could challenge the Suez Canal’s primacy and give Iran a significant advantage.
These days, the grounding of a huge container ship in the Suez Canal has blocked the vital waterway, causing a backlog of over 300 vessels.
The crisis has crippled global supply chains, forcing companies to consider the expensive option of re-routing vessels around the southern tip of Africa.
Egypt is also losing some $12-14 million in revenue from the canal for each day it is closed, Rabie said.
The MV Ever Given (Evergreen), which is longer than four football fields, has been wedged diagonally across the span of the canal since Tuesday, blocking the waterway in both directions."
Kazem Jalali, the Iranian ambassador to Moscow, tweeted on Saturday that the INSTC can reduce the travel time [from India to Europe] to 20 days and decrease the costs by 30 percent.
“Therefore, it is a superior option to replace the Suez Canal in transit,” Jalali added.
He said the recent shutdown of the Suez Canal caused by the stranded ship Evergreen indicates that an alternative with a lower level of risk must be considered given the traffic of over one billion tons of goods through the vital waterway.
Iran, together with India and Russia, is pushing forward with the sea and rail corridor that could substantially reduce the time and cost of shipping goods from India to Europe.
The 7,200-km multimode route was proposed by the three countries in 2000, before being joined by 10 Central Asian countries. It envisages a network of ship, rail and road for freight transport that will cut carriage costs by about 30-60% and transit time from 40 days to about 20 days.
The Iranian port city of Chabahar is thought to play a crucial role in reducing dependency on the Suez Canal for transporting cargo to Europe.
Under the 2017 tripartite agreement, India has committed at least $21 billion to the corridor linking Chabahar to Hajigak in central Afghanistan.
The corridor could challenge the Suez Canal’s primacy and give Iran a significant advantage.
These days, the grounding of a huge container ship in the Suez Canal has blocked the vital waterway, causing a backlog of over 300 vessels.
The crisis has crippled global supply chains, forcing companies to consider the expensive option of re-routing vessels around the southern tip of Africa.
Egypt is also losing some $12-14 million in revenue from the canal for each day it is closed, Rabie said.
The MV Ever Given (Evergreen), which is longer than four football fields, has been wedged diagonally across the span of the canal since Tuesday, blocking the waterway in both directions."
4. Conclusions
The external pressure on Iran has a very positive effect on the development of the Iranian industry. The Iranians have no other choice but to become an industrial society for their mere survival.
- Iran has to develop it's commercial nuclear industry, to become able to frack carbon-hydrates without depending on another nuclear power.
- Iran has to extend its transport infrastructure to use its geographic advantage between Asia, Europe and Africa.
- Iran has to develop its sea ports to use is advantage as a country with extensive sea coast in the north, the south and the west.
- Iran has to produce all consumer goods, to secure the provision of its citizens.
- Iran has to generate more industrial jobs, to decrease the unemployment and prevent the emigration of the young people.
- Iranians have to become aware about psychological, sociological & biological attacks.
I am well aware that the military and political leadership is at least aware of geophysical warfare. The increased precipitation, floods and filling of the rivers and lakes is evidence for that.
6. Related Articles
Why Iran needs the atom-bombs? Not for war or deterrence, but for FRACKING!
http://geoarchitektur.blogspot.com/p/why-iran-needs-atom-bombs-not-for-war.html
http://geoarchitektur.blogspot.com/p/why-iran-needs-atom-bombs-not-for-war.html
Iran under attack by Geophysical Warfare methods!
By murdering General Soleimani, did Trump want to prevent Saudi Arabia from joining Iran?
Murder of General Qassem Soleymani leads to accelerated disposal of imperial forces from Middle East!
Eugenic population control (global mass murder) through global sterilization with synchronized vaccination!
Genetic Geoengineering: The good and way vaccination or abuse as WMD of Eugenics!
Gatesification of Indians & Africans!
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