Deputy Oil Minister Inaugurates Iran 1st Catalyst Innovation & Technology Center

Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister and Managing Director of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Morteza Shahmirzaei inaugurated the country’s first Catalyst Innovation and Technology Center in Tehran.

Inaugurated in collaboration with the Sarv Oil and Gas Industries Development Company and Amirkabir University of Technology, the Catalyst Innovation and Technology Center is aimed at achieving 100% self-sufficiency in the catalyst sector.

Iran is among few countries having the catalyst technology and producing 97% of catalysts needed by the petrochemical industry, said Shahmirzaei.

Based on the plan, the country will become completely self-sufficient in the catalyst sector by the end of the 13th administration (August 2025), said the deputy oil minister, pledging that NPC will fully support researchers engaged in developing the catalyst industry.

Speaking during the inauguration ceremony, Alireza Rahaei, the Amirkabir University of Technology president, said cooperation between researchers, academics and Sarvino Innovation and Technology Center will continue with the aim of indigenizing catalysts.

Iran has made great achievements in the petrochemical industry by relying on knowledge-based companies and universities over the past 50 years, he added.

Sarv Oil and Gas Industries Development Company Managing Director Amir Houman Karimi Vasigh, also speaking in the ceremony, said knowledge-based companies enjoying full support from the Oil Ministry in recent years, have made great successes in the petroleum industry. The Iranian catalyst producers not only have met domestic needs, but also have succeeded in getting into overseas markets. - Shana