Azerbaijan, Baku, Jun.26/ Trend R.Zamanov
Iran has not yet reached self-sufficiency in gasoline production, spokesman for the Iran Majlis (Parliament) Energy Committee Hossein Amiri-Khamkani said on Wednesday.
Projects currently underway will come on stream next year, but for now the country is not self-sufficient in gasoline production, the ILNA News Agency reported.
Iran's gasoline production has increased in the past few years, but consumption is also on the rise, he explained.
He criticised President Ahmadinejad's administration for leaving so many projects, mainly the Mehr-e-Mandegar ones incomplete.
Amiri-Khamkani added that Ahmadinjead used to criticise the high number of incomplete projects of his preceding government, but now he is leaving behind even more incomplete projects compared to Mr Khatami's administration.
It is while Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on June 25 that once the Persian Gulf Star refinery and some other current projects come on stream, Iran will become a gasoline exporter.
The incumbent president made the remarks during the inauguration ceremony of 14 oil projects at the Lavan oil refinery, the Fars News Agency reported.
Referring to country's current gasoline production capacity, Ahmadinejad said that "If Iran was still importing gasoline, we should have paid 30 billion dollars annually to import 80 million litres of gasoline."