Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug.1/ Trend F.Milad/
Iran has reduced the imports of premium gasoline by 2 million liters per day, the managing director of Tehran's Shahid Tondgouyan refinery said.
The country saves some 3 trillion rial (about $245 million) in this regard, Nasser Babaee said in an interview with the state TV on Tuesday night.
A gasoline production unit came on stream at Tehran's Shahid Tondgouyan refinery on Tuesday, aiming to boost its daily gasoline output by 2.8 million liters to reach 9 million liters.
The refinery now accounts for 16 percent of the total domestic gasoline production, the ISNA news agency reported. It is also producing some 11.5 million tons of diesel fuel.
Some 9 trillion rial (about $730 million) has been invested in the development plan.
A number of petrochemical projects will come on stream by the end of this year (March 20, 2013), which will boost the country's gasoline output by around 12 million liters per day, to hit 70 million liters per day, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Production and Distribution Company said in May.
Gasoline production units at the Imam Khomeini, Shazand, Abadan, Tondgouyan and Lavan refineries will be commissioned by the end of the year, Alireza Zeighami said.
Iran exported over 132,000 tons of gasoline, worth about $134 million, last year.
According to Customs Administration data, the gasoline exports rose by 127 percent in value and by 108.5 percent in volume, respectively, compared to the year before.
Armenia, Afghanistan, the UAE, Iraq and Oman were the destinations for Iranian gasoline.
Iranian gasoline imports have slumped by as much as 95 percent over the last four years, according to official government data, as rising refinery capacity and lower fuel subsidies help to neutralize Western sanctions aimed at starving Tehran of fuel.
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