Total, Shell to build petchem plants

One of the plants will produce ethane cracker and the other polyethylene, and they will receive ethane as feed, she explained, Mehr news agency reported.

Some $900 million of investment is needed for the ethylene unit and $1.2 to $1.5 billion is needed for the propylene unit, Shahdaei said.

She went on to note that Iran has on agenda 25 high-priority petrochemical projects with an estimated cost of $50 billion.

"This year (Iranian year, to end March 20) about 8.5 million tons of petrochemical output will be added to the country’s product. Also, it is estimated that next be added," the petrochemical chief said.

Iran’s nominal petrochemical products capacity is about 63 million tons per year (mt/y), but the country plans to increase the volume to 130 mt/y by 2020 and 180 mt/y by 2025.