Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 8
By Rahim Zamanov - Trend:
Iran's gasoline output capacity will be increased by 23-24 million litres per day, following the commissioning of Isfahan refinery's gasoline production unit and the Persian Gulf Star refinery's first phase, the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company's deputy director, Shahrokh Khosravani, said on Feb. 8, Iran's Mehw News Agency reported.
"The gasoline production unit of Isfahan refinery will come on stream next spring," he said, adding that once the unit starts production the country can stop importing gasoline.
"The first phase of the Persian Gulf Star refinery is now 67 percent complete and will come on stream by the end of the next Iranian calendar year (to end March 20, 2015)," he explained.
Khosravani went on to note that once the first phase of the Persian Gulf Star refinery comes on stream some 12 million liters of gasoline and 4.5 million liters of diesel oil will be added to the country's total production capacity.
"So far 2.2 million euros have been invested in the project and another one million euros is needed to complete it," he noted.
Former Deputy Oil Minister Alireza Zeyqami said in June that once the gasoline production units of Lavan, Abadan, and Tabriz refineries come on stream, the country's gasoline production capacity will be increased by six million liters per day.
"The projects will come on stream in six months," the IRNA News Agency quoted Zeyqami as saying.
"Once the projects come on stream, the country's gasoline production capacity would surpass the consumption rate so we can stop production of gasoline in the petrochemical complexes," he explained.
Zeyqammi said in April that by the end of the Fifth Five - Year Economic Development Plan (March 2016), Iran's gasoline exports will reach 30 million liters per day.
He also went on to note that Iran plans to boost its gasoline production up to 70 million liters by the end of the current Iranian calendar year.
The U.S. imposed sanctions curtailed Iran's imports of gasoline in 2009.
Before that Iran was importing 40 percent of its domestic gasoline need.
Iran's average gasoline consumption stood at around 71.6 million liters per day in the previous Iranian calendar year, the ISNA News Agency reported.