Azerbaijan, Baku, Sep.15/ Trend R.Zamanov
Iran's gasoline consumption has increased due to the summer trips so the country may need to import gasoline, Ali Marvi, deputy head of Iranian parliament (Majlis) Energy Committee, said on Sunday.
"Normally Iran doesn't need to import any gasoline to meet its domestic demands," the ISNA News Agency quoted Marvi as saying.
"Iran is self-sufficient in gasoline production," he said, adding that the country is ready to produce gasoline in petrochemical complexes if needed.
"Some part of the gasoline import would aim at increasing the octane rating," Marvi added.
The Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on September 10 that Iran needs to import gasoline to meet its domestic demands.
"Iran's gasoline production capacity will raise by 6 - 7 million liters by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2014) but even then the country's gasoline output would not meet domestic demands," the ISNA News Agency quoted Zanganeh as saying.
Zanganeh went on to note that the government is not going to increase the price of gasoline in the current calendar year.
Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moqaddam, head of Iranian parliament (Majlis) Planning and Budget Committee also said on September 13 that there is no law against importing gasoline.
"So if the oil minister says the country needs to import gasoline there is no legal objection to the decision," he added, the Mehr News Agency reported.
Reports suggest that Iran may export oil to India in exchange for gasoline.
Iran's average gasoline consumption has reached 70 million liters per day, which is 7 per cent more than previous year.
The figure has even increased to 80 million liters per day in the past two weeks due to summer trips.
The county's gasoline output capacity is currently around 67 million liters per day.
Once the gasoline production units of Tabriz and Isfahan refineries come on stream, the figure would reach 70 million liters.
But still the Oil Minister believes that Iran needs to import gasoline to meet its domestic demands.