Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.12
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Daily gasoline consumption in Iran has fallen to 63.971 million liters in the week ended on April 10, which shows 17.5 million liters decrease compared to the preceding week.
The weekly consumption amounted to 447.8 million liters, showing 122.5 million liters decrease week on week, Iran's Shana news agency reported on April 12.
April 9 with 74 million liters, and April 5 with 58.4 million liters respectively recorded the highest and lowest rate of gasoline consumption in the mentioned week.
According to the report, 27 million liters of premium gasoline was consumed in the 7-day period.
Some 98.7 million liters of gasoline were consumed in the capital city, Tehran, during the week, showing 5.3 million liters rise compared to the preceding week.
Iran'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.
Iran used to import 40 percent of its needed gasoline by 2009. But the international sanctions forced it to produce gasoline domestically by adding lead or some poisonous chemical catalysts such as MTBE to the product.
MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether, is an oxygenate added to gasoline to boost octane levels and to help fuel burn cleaner. While it's been replaced by ethanol in the U.S. after it contaminated drinking water, other countries still use it. Its offensive odor and taste can render water undrinkable, while its health effects are unclear.