Baku, Azerbaijan, March 26
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
South Korean companies will participate in renovation of Iranian refineries, Abbas Kazemi, Iran's deputy oil minister said.
Kazemi said that Iran is negotiating with the companies for renovation of Isfahan and Abadan refineries, the oil ministry's official SHANA news agency reported.
Kazemi, who heads the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC), said that general agreement has been reached with the South Korean companies on the issue. He did not give the names of the companies.
The parties are now reviewing the details for cooperation, the Iranian official added.
The Isfahan refinery's renovation has progressed by some 20-30 percent, and once the operations are completed, the refinery will produce a larger volume of Euro-4 gasoline and gas oil and less mazut, he said, explaining that the refinery's 30 percent mazut output will decrease to 10 percent.
Only one of Iran's nine active refineries enjoys acceptable profitability and other refineries need to improve their performance. The refineries refine 1.8 million barrels of crude oil in total on a daily basis.
Iran ranks 9th in the world in terms of gasoline production and 13th in gas oil output, meanwhile it is the world's third major mazut producer, which indicates low performance of the country's refineries.
...