Azerbaijan , Baku, Feb. 23 / Trend, A.Yusifzade /
The storage capacity for crude oil in Iranian Persian Gulfs Kharg oil terminal expected to increase by four million barrels once new storage facilities come on stream in two years, Mehr News Agency reported.
Presently Iran's Kharg oil terminal contains more than 40 reservoirs with the storage capacity of about 22 million barrels of crude oil.
Earlier the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC), Farid Ameri said that by building new storage tanks, oil products storage capacity will be increasing to 13 billion liters during the first half of next Iranian calendar year (starting March 21, 2011).
According to Ameri, current oil products storage capacity amounts to 11.5 billion liters and will increase by five billion liters to 16.7 billion liters at the end of 2016.
" Creating 600 million liters storage capacity is underway and it is expected NIOPDC to implement new projects this year in order to increase storage capacity by 300 to 400 million liters," Ameri said .
"O ur priority for building new storage tanks is getting help from private sector and using banking facilities," Ameri added.
According to Ameri, Iran 's oil products storage capacity will be increasing to 13 billion liters over the next six months.
The European Union and the United States last year targeted the Iranian energy sector through a series of sanctions meant as punishment for Iran's controversial nuclear program.
Iran responded by converting many of its petrochemical plants to gasoline production in order to meet domestic demand. The government also announced it was taking steps to end subsidies that keep gasoline prices considerably lower in Iran than in the rest of the world.