Iran said Wednesday it expected its petrochemicals exports to the EU to fall in 2012 because of the eurozone debt crisis rather than international sanctions against its energy sector, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
"At the moment, we cannot focus on a particular figure," Abdolhossein Bayat, deputy oil minister for petrochemical affairs, was quoted as saying when asked whether Iran would achieve its $2 billion target for petrochemicals sales to Europe during the current Iranian year ending March 20.
"Due to the economic recession and the crisis in Europe, high petrochemical exports cannot be expected," Bayat said.
He did, however, make indirect reference to the sanctions, saying that there were "some challenges in the way of money transfers," though he added that this was not the reason for lower exports of petrochemicals products to Europe.
"These factors have played absolutely no role in the decrease of Iran's petrochemical exports...at the moment there is no restriction on exports of petrochemical products to Europe," Bayat said.
Sanctions imposed against Iran by the US, the UN Security Council and the EU restrict financial dealings with some Iranian banks and institutions though there is no ban on exports of petrochemicals. EU sanctions passed last year threaten penalties against foreign companies that invest in Iranian petrochemicals projects.
The US also tightened sanctions against Iran's energy sector last November, targeting specifically the petrochemicals sector which Washington said was a major source of revenue for Tehran.
Bayat, who is managing director of the National Petrochemical Company, said that none of Iran's customers had indicated they were cutting their imports of Iranian petrochemicals.
He put the total value of petrochemical exports at more than $11 billion during the first nine months of the current Iranian year, an increase of 36% over the same period a year earlier, said Bayat. Iran's petrochemicals exports to Europe account for 10% of its total exports.
Mehr said Iran provides around 11% of the EU's petrochemical needs.
The international community tightened the sanctions noose around Iran after the International Atomic Energy Agency said November 8 that it had credible information that Iran was carrying out "activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device."
Iran has denied that it is developing atomic weapons and insists its nuclear program is peaceful and designed to generate electricity for a growing population.
The US last week imposed new sanctions targeting Iran's central bank, effectively making it harder for Iran to receive payment for its crude oil and petrochemicals exports, the bulk of which is sold into Asia.
The EU is set to announce a new round of sanctions against Iran at the end of the month, with France urging a ban on oil exports unless there is progress in diplomatic efforts to resolve the nuclear row between the world powers and Tehran.
