Speaking to NIPNA, Reza
Norouzzadeh said that progress often takes place in the upstream sector of the petrochemical
industry while development of downstream industries has two advantages.
Firstly, production units
can be built in cities and provide job for people in their motherlands, he
added.
In the upstream
industry, in order to access feedstock supplied for running the units, most of the plants are
built near the Persian Gulf, which means people have to be displaced to be able to work in
the facilities while in downstream industries, it is the items and products
that are displaced not the people, he argued.
"Another advantage of
downstream industries is the high value added of manufactured products compared to the upstream," the NPC CEO added.
The official attributed
the main concern in downstream petrochemical industries to the lack of technical
savvy, and said: "The reason for the lack of development of downstream
petrochemical industries is technical knowhow. Therefore, "if we can establish
relations with the owners of technologies, we will be able to access talents
and the necessary facilities for the development of the industries."
Owners of knowledge
provide us with the basic information and we must have the ability to design
the details, he said.
Speaking of the role NPC
plays in the industry, Norouzzadeh said, "NPC functions are a regulatory
body that sets regulations in the industry and does not by itself invest in
projects but provides incentives for the private sector to develop petrochemical
projects."