Iran to invest in Philippine petrochemical plant

Iran will invest $ 100 mm in a petrochemical plant in the northern Philippine province of Bataan, Tehran’s envoy to Manila said. Ambassador Jalal Kalantari told the petrochemical plant will produce 275,000 tons of high density polyethylene annually for export to Iran and Southeast Asian countries, and then increase it to 400,000 tons in five years.
Polyethylene can be used in the mining, agriculture, marine, chemical storage and food industries.

Kalantari but said Iranian experts recently finalized the overhaul of the polyethylene plant at the Bataan Petrochemical Complex, a 530-hectare government-owned industrial park at the famous World War II battleground, about 80 km (50 miles) west of Manila.
He said two-way trade was valued at $ 1.03 bn in 2005 in favour of Iran due to the large oil imports by the Philippines, which amounted to $ 995 mm last year.

He said Iran was seeking Philippine expertise on building geothermal power plants, which the Philippines use extensively for producing electricity.
The Iranian government is also seeking expert advice from the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) in building geothermal plants, he said.