Iran's National Petrochemical Company said Tuesday that new US sanctions specifically targeting the petrochemicals industry would have no impact on the sale of petrochemical products to Europe, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
"Having received a new permit from the European Union, exports of petrochemical products to this region will not stop," NPC Managing Director Abdolhossein Bayat was quoted as saying when asked about the impact of the latest US sanctions.
"US sanctions will definitely have no impact on the sale and exports of Iran's petrochemical products to the European markets," said Bayat, who is also deputy oil minister for petrochemical affairs.
He added that Iran had received a certificate in late 2010 clearing its petrochemicals exports to the EU.
According to Mehr, the approval is based on environmental tests on Iranian products before they can be imported into the EU.
"Different petrochemical products will be exported to Europe under any condition," Bayat said.
But he added that some European buyers hadn't honored their commitments to Iran in recent years.
Bayat said US sanctions last year also targeted the petrochemicals sector, noting that a previous measure had focused on Iranian purchases of catalysts, equipment and some strategic chemicals.
But he said that Iran had found a way around the sanctions through different channels and was able to secure catalysts and chemical materials despite "troubles caused by the sanctions."
"In the past three decades, different ways were always used to go around the US and European sanctions," he said.
Bayat was later quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency as saying that the sanctions could raise global petrochemical prices.
"If the US seeks to sanction the National Petrochemical Company, price of petrochemical products will definitely go up in the global market," he warned.
"And [Iran] would likely end up earning even more export revenues in foreign currency by the National Petrochemical Company for the country despite their intention," Bayat said. "Because Iran will not lose its target markets."
Bayat also said Iran's petrochemical exports had risen in the first seven months of the current Iranian year, from March 21 to October 22.
"In this period, petrochemical production reached 24.5 million mt, which is 2.5% higher than the same period last year," he said.
In the past seven months, Iran has sold 10.5 million mt of petrochemicals worth $8 billion, Bayat said.
Domestic petrochemicals sales amounted to 6 million mt in the period, he said, adding that this represented a 26% increase on the year.
The US Monday tightened sanctions on Iran's energy sector, targeting for the first time its petrochemical industry, which the administration of President Barack Obama says the country has used to circumvent previous efforts to limit the sale of refined products to Iran.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the sanctions on Iran's petrochemical sector recognize that the country converted many petrochemical plants to produce gasoline for internal consumption after the US in 2010 imposed unilateral sanctions on companies selling refined products to the country.
Iran's petrochemical industry is "a significant source of export revenues and a cover for imports for sanctioned activities," Clinton said during a press conference. "To accompany this new measure, we will launch a worldwide diplomatic campaign to encourage other countries to shift any purchases of Iranian petrochemical products to other suppliers."
In 2010, US Congress passed the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act, or CISADA, which allowed the president to impose sanctions on any company that invests $20 million or more in Iran's oil production sector.
The sanctions announced Monday significantly reduce the level of investment to $5 million.
The new sanctions also target entities that in a 12-month period invest as little as $1 million in Iran's petrochemical sector.
"Because CISADA has impeded Iran's ability to develop its domestic refining capacity, Iran has tried to compensate by using its petrochemical facilities to refine petroleum," Obama said in a statement to congress.
The international community has stepped up pressure on Tehran after the International Atomic Energy Agency said November 8 that there was credible information that Iran was carrying out "activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device."
