Turkey, Iran, Egypt to found petrochem body

TEHRAN - Hürriyet Daily News

Representatives of D-8 countries gathered in Tehran last week. Courtesy of PLASFED

The National Iranian Petrochemical Organization (NIPO) has made a proposal to Turkey and Egypt to form an international petrochemical association similar to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) with Iran at a D8 meeting in Tehran.

According to a press release by the Turkish Plastic Industrialists Federation (PLASFED), the offer was presented at a petrochemicals meeting of the D8 Countries in Tehran, Iran between May 13 and 14. “It was decided that all preparations of the proposed association were to be completed until a meeting in Iran at the first quarter of 2014,” the statement said.

According to Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), NIPO Managing Director Abdolhossein Bayat said on May 18, “On the sideline of the petrochemical conference of the D8 group of countries, Turkey and Egypt, as the two biggest producers of petrochemical products and engineering polymers in the Middle East, agreed to Iran’s oil proposals.”

Bayat noted that Iran would hold talks with several other petroleum producing Islamic countries in the near future to further discuss the establishment of an international petrochemical association. “Currently with the presence of Iran, Turkey and Egypt, the core establishment of a petrochemical OPEC has been formed,” he added. The D-8 is a group of developing countries with large Muslim populations that have formed an economic development alliance. It consists of Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey.