Baku, Azerbaijan, March 11
By Rahim Zamanov - Trend:
Iran has obtained gas- to- liquids (GTL) technology and is now able to produce gasoline from natural gas, the managing director of SARV Oil & Gas Industries Development Company, Amir-Hooman Karimi said on March11, IRNA reported.
"By using GTL technology Iran can produce gasoline conforming to Euro-5 standard," he explained.
"It will be possible for us to produce gasoline with even higher quality as well," Karimi said.
Gas to liquids (GTL) is a refinery process converting natural gas or other gaseous hydrocarbons into longer-chain hydrocarbons such as gasoline or diesel fuel.
The managing director of National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC), Mostafa Kashkouli, said on March 5 that Iran will import 10 to 11 million liters of gasoline per day in the next calendar year (which starts on March 21), Iran's Mehr News Agency reported.
"The figure is three times more than the current year's imports," he said.
Kashkouli went on to note that Iran currently imports 3.3 million liters of gasoline per day.
"Since Iran will no longer produce gasoline in petrochemical complexes, the country needs to import more gasoline," he explained.
Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Abbas Shari-Moghadam said on Feb.28 that petrochemical complexes will not produce gasoline and octane booster as of next year, Iran's ISNA News Agency reported.
Shari-Moghadam, also the managing director of National Petrochemical Company, said that the decision was made because the gasoline produced in petrochemical complexes has been reported as polluting.
Iranian petrochemical complexes started producing gasoline once the United States put gasoline trades with Iran under sanction.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Feb. 25 that the gasoline produced in the petrochemical complexes is polluting, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported.
"Currently such gasoline is not being distributed in capital [Tehran] since the city's air is already polluted," he explained.
Iran's Mehr News Agency reported on March 4 that some 24 billion liters of gasoline was consumed in Iran in the first eleven months of the current Iranian calendar year (which started on March 21, 2013).
The country's average gasoline consumption was round 68 million liters per day in the mentioned figure.
The figure has risen to over 70 million liters per day in the 12th calendar month, and is expected to reach 100 million liters in the New Year holidays.
Kashkouli said on Jan.10 that the country's gasoline consumption has faced a 7.6 percent increase compared to the previous year, the ISNA News Agency reported.
"We are currently storing enough gasoline to meet the country's demands in the New Year holidays and the next summer," Kashkouli explained.
Over 6.534 billion liters of gasoline was consumed in Iran during the summer this year.
The figure is 500 million liters which is more than the same period of time the previous year, the IRNA News Agency reported.
Iran's average gasoline consumption stood at 68.5 and 68.2 million liters per day in the first and second months of summer, respectively.
The figure reached 74 million liters in the third month of summer.
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.
It is while according to the Deputy Oil Minister Alireza Zeyqami Iran's average gasoline consumption stands at around 63.5 million liters per day.