Iran Hopes to End Selling Crude Oil in Five Years
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh expressed the hope that the country would not need to sell crude oil in the near future.
The Iranian oil minister on Tuesday also expressed the hope that with investments in petrochemical and refinery sectors, Iran would stop selling crude oil by the next four to five years.
Iran sits on a massive natural resource, oil, and because of this, the country’s economy has become oil-based for decades.
Many Iranian economists as well as the government believe that the country’s dependence on oil revenues should end.
The 5-year development plans and Iran’s outlook plan have all stressed on decreasing the country’s reliance on oil revenues.
That is why Iran, which is the second biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is seeking to reach an oil-free economy.
Moving in that direction, Iran has invested billions of dollars in the country’s petrochemical industry and plans more investments.
The country reaped $12 billion from exporting petrochemicals in the Iranian calendar year which ended on March 20, 2013.
Petrochemical products accounted for 37.5 percent of Iran’s non-oil exports and 47 percent of industrial exports in that year.