Tehran - A deputy petroleum minister said that petrochemical development projects in Phase 2 of the giant offshore South Pars gas fields are progressing as scheduled.

"Development projects are progressing more tangibly than before and dynamism has returned to the petrochemical industry," the Petroenergy news network SHANA quoted Abbas Sheri-Moqaddam as saying on Monday.

He said financing of the projects, particularly by China, is proving effective in South Pars.

Sheri-Moqaddam, who is also the managing-director of National Petrochemical Company, said that the South Pars could become a strategic production hub.