Iran’s downstream braces for the challenge

Iran’s downstream sector is almost as important for the country’s economic and strategic goals as the headline-hogging upstream

The Iranian downstream energy industry faces many of the same problems as its upstream counterpart - a lack of finance and foreign investment, and difficulty in accessing equipment and technology, largely but not entirely because of sanctions. The country's five-year energy plan post-sanctions involved spending about $70bn in petrochemicals and $14bn in refinery upgrades. The petrochemicals strategy is focused largely on making the most of Iran's giant, low-cost production of gas and associated natural gas liquids (NGLs) production. Iran's refining sector development has three key, related aims—to increase the output of lighter products; to minimise the yield of low-value fuel oil; and to el