Economic Evaluation of South Pars Special Economic Energy Zone (SPSEEZ)

Special economic zones in different countries follow absorption of foreign investment, attract and upgrade technology, involve acquisition of managerial knowledge and exporting and re-exporting for host country. In the development plans of Iran, creation of free and special zones has been considered one of the fastest industrial development and export promotion methods. Special economic energy zones are a kind of special economic zones with emphasis on energy. In our country, South Pars Special Economic Energy Zone (SPSEEZ) having 6% of the world natural gas reserves is the greatest gas field in the world which has suitable position to absorb participation of foreign investors and up-to-date technology and combining it with domestic possibilities (home-made abilities and specialized and skilled manpower). Development of exploiting from oil and gas fields in the region, and also, creating and promoting of downstream industries and existence of marketing possibilities and supply of processed products to the world market not only decreases dependence of national economy to crude oil exports, but also results in more foreign incomes, more value-added, creating employment, development of manpower skills and absorption of technology.In this research net present value (NPV) of project has been calculated using real discount rates (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%) based on project data and scenario. Thus, this project is economically justifiable regarding the calculated NPVs. The complementary measures such as internal rate of return (IRR) and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) have been computed. Once again, the economic justification of this project was confirmed with real discount rate of 5 percent.