(IranMania) - OPEC member Iran has signed a 2,7-billion-dollar oil refinery upgrade deal with China which will help feed the Islamic republic's hunger for fuel, Iranian state television reported.
Under the accord, a consortium led by Chinese firm Sinopec will upgrade capacity at a refinery in the central Iranian city of Arak from the current 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day to 250,000 barrels, reports Trend.
"Currently, Arak refinery produces about six million liters (1.6 million gallons) of petrol a day and when the upgrade operation is done the figure will reach about 16 million liters (four million gallons)," said deputy oil minister in charge of refining affairs, Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh.
The project will take less than four years to complete, he added.
Iran is OPEC's second biggest oil producer after Saudi Arabia, AFP noted.
Most of its refineries, however, were built by American companies before the 1979 Islamic revolution and refurbishment has been hampered by trade sanctions imposed since then.
The contract with the Sinopec consortium marks an effort by the Islamic republic to increase its petrol production.
Its refineries have a capacity of 40 million liters (10 million gallons) of petrol a day, but demand is over 70 million liters (18 million gallons) a day, AFP stated.
Iran pays several billion dollars per year to import petrol to meet growing domestic consumption by its 68-million-strong population.