German industrial gases group Linde says it has revived plant-engineering contracts in Iran but cannot work on them due to banking problems that obstructed transferring money out of the country.
Linde – which was previously reported to be considering a major investment in Iran’s petrochemical industry – announced that it had to wait to find a way to transfer money out of the country before proceeding with its Iran investment plans.
“We have already signed engineering contracts to resuscitate projects from years ago but the banking system has to be fixed first before we can start performing on these contracts,” Linde Chief Executive Office Aldo Belloni told analysts on a conference call on Thursday, as reported by Reuters.
In February 2016, the National Petrochemical Company of Iran announced that Linde and Japan’s Mitsui Chemicals were planning to invest $4 billion in Iran’s petrochemical industry.