Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran has averagely imported 4.5 million liters of gasoline per day during the current Iranian fiscal year (started on March 21, 2014), Abbas Kazemi, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) said.
The figure indicates a decline by 122 percent compared to daily 10 million liters of gasoline import in preceding year, Kazemi said, the official IRNA news agency reported Jan. 8.
The gasoline production projects in the country are seen to come on stream by next year (to start on March 2015), which will lead to producing 70 million liters of gasoline per day domestically, the official added.
He also forecasted that the Islamic Republic will export 15 to 20 billion liters of liquid fuel in the next fiscal year.
The administration has taken practical steps to decrease air pollution problem in big cities including Tehran, Karaj, Tabriz, Arak, Esfahan and Mashhad by distributes gasoline conforming Euro-4 standard, Kazemi said.
Iran used to import 40 percent of its needed gasoline by 2009. But, the international sanctions forced it to produce gasoline domestically through adding lead or some poisonous chemical catalysts such as MTBE to the product. MTBE is a highly poisonous substance which causes cancer. It is banned worldwide to be used for gasoline production.
The administration of President Hassan Rouhani ordered to stop the distribution of substandard gasoline.
Average daily gasoline consumption hits 70 million liters in Iran, meanwhile the country's gasoline output is currently around 62 million liters, so it needs to import the rest.
The Islamic Republic only imports gasoline conforming to Euro 4 standard as importing Euro 2 gasoline has been banned.
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