Gholamreza Heidari Kord-Zangeneh said shares in Fanavaran, which controls production capacity of 1 million tonnes of methanol a year, would be transferred to the private sector under article 44 of the constitution.

Zangeneh, who also serves as Iran’s deputy economic affairs and finance minister, did not specify the size of the initial equity stake.

In October, the Iranian Privatisation Organisation instructed the Oil Ministry to privatise 92 oil and petrochemicals companies although the flagship National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) is not included.

Under Tehran’s socio-economic development plan, 5 per cent of the shares in the firms will initially be privatised. After that, the Iranian Privatisation Organisation will establish a market price, on which further offerings can be based.