Iran’s agreement with French energy giant Total in the petrochemical sector will result in $2 billion investment, said a senior Iranian government official.

“In case of a final agreement, Total will invest up to two billion dollars in Iran's petrochemical industries,” Deputy Minister of Petroleum Marzieh Shahdaie was quoted as saying by Irna, which cited the Ministry of Petroleum.

Outlining talks between National Petrochemical Company (NPC) of Iran and French Total Company for establishment of new petchem facilities in Iran, Shahdaie said based on the latest talks, the petrochemical facilities will operate with the capacity to yield about 2.2 million tons of petrochemical and polymer products annually.

She announced that for the time being, agreement has been reached for establishment of two facilities for production of a special grade of polyethylene, each facility running with 500,000 tons annual production capacity.

Shahdaie added that furthermore, agreement has been reached for construction of a cracker ethane facility to turn ethane into ethylene – 1,200,000 tons a year production capacity.

The NPC top official said the most important specification of contract with Total and its likely partnership in petrochemical projects is transfer technology for production of a special kind of polyethylene in Iran.

Iran’s annual petrochemical production capacity stands at 62 million tons and by the end of this year (March 20, 2018), the figure will reach 72 million tons when six new projects come into stream. The total value of net sale of the products will rise up to $17 billion.

National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and an international consortium, led by French Total company, signed Iran’s new oil contract in the post-sanction era for development of the phase 11 of South Pars.

Under the $4.8 billion gas deal, 56 million cu m of gas will be added to Iran’s capacity to extract gas from South Pars gas field common with Qatar.