Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 22
By Fatih Karimov- Trend:
Iran's gasoline imports since March stood at 8.4 million liters per day averagely, according to Mehr news agency Dec. 22, citing the Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company's (NIORDC) statistics.
Iran's oil ministry is permitted to import 10 million liters of gasoline on daily basis.
The country's gasoline import witnessed a sharp rise in comparison with 4.6 million liters of import per day during the last fiscal year (March 2014-2015).
Periodic overhaul operations at Arak oil refinery which led to gasoline production decrease by 50 percent to eight million liters per day, as well as gasoline consumption increase by some three percent seem to be main factors behind hiking imports.
Iran has fully stopped importing gasoline from Turkmenistan since last month.
It was announced that the decision was made due to low-quality of gasoline produced in Turkmenistan.
Iran's consumption of gasoline stands at an average of 72 million liters per day. The government has to increase gasoline imports especially after ditching plans to build 13 new oil refineries due to technical and financial issues.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh has said Iran would need no more gasoline imports next year once a major refinery - Persian Gulf Star Refinery - becomes operational.