Tehran, Iran, June 26
By A. Shirazi - Trend:
The Persian Gulf Star Refinery, Iran's largest gas condensate refinery, in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas has so far saved $5.4 billion since its inauguration in 2017, an official said.
Alireza Sadeq-Abadi, the managing director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC), said 3.7 billion liters of gasoline, 1.7 million liters of gasoil, 500 million liters of condensate gas, and 9 billion liters of other products have been so far produced at the Persian Gulf Star Refinery since becoming operational, IRNA news agency reported on June 26.
President Hassan Rouhani inaugurated phase 1 of the refinery in March 2017. The completion of the second phase takes its capacity by 120,000 bpd to 240,000 bpd, with the third phase expected to add another 120,000 bpd of capacity.
“The total production at the refinery has saved $5.4 billion and stopped capital flight to a large extent,” the official said.
Phase two of the refinery, however, is still in its commissioning phase and not running at full capacity yet, according to the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).
In mid-December last year, Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh said Iran will reach a stable status in gasoline production once the second phase of Persian Gulf Star Refinery comes on stream.
Bringing self-sufficiency for the country in terms of gasoline production, once fully operational, the Middle East's largest processing facility for gas condensate will also play a big role to turn Iran into an exporter of gasoline.
The big job has already started as the first shipment of Euro 5 gasoline produced by Persian Gulf Star Refinery was delivered to Shahid Rajaee port in south of the country in early December last year.