Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 2
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Shell and Total have been permitted to establish 200 gas stations in Iran.
Bijan Hajmohammad-Reza, chairman of the association of Iranian gas station owners, said Shell and Total each will establish 100 gas stations in Tehran and other parts of the country, Mehr news agency reported Oct. 2.
The move is aimed at promoting renowned brands in the fuel production and distribution industry of the country, he added.
Assets of companies, such as Shell and Total, are around five times of assets of the Iranian Oil Ministry and the National Iranian Oil Company, he noted.
He also said that negotiations are underway with a number of oil refineries to sell and rent some oil storage facilities and gas stations.
Iran has run out of gasoline while statistics show that in the past one year the country has imported 324 percent more gasoline than in the preceding year.
During the Rouhani administration feed to refineries lowered by 200 thousand barrels a day, resulting in the reduction of gasoline production by 4 to 6 percent in recent months compared to one year ago
Iran used to import 40 percent of its needed gasoline by 2009. But the international sanctions forced it to produce gasoline domestically by adding lead or some poisonous chemical catalysts to the product.
The administration of President Hassan Rouhani ordered to stop the distribution of substandard gasoline.
Iran is currently importing 6.5 million liters of gasoline on average per day, while in the previous year an average of two million liters per day of gasoline had been imported.
Edited by CN