Tehran, Iran, June 12
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
The Iranian Ministry of Petroleum has spent $1 billion to improve the country's gasoline and gas oil quality, director of the ministry's Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Department Mohammad Taqi Jafarzadeh said.
Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh has received the national reward for the efforts in improving the country's gasoline and gas oil quality, Jafarzadeh told SHANA news agency June 12.
The official said as part of the comprehensive project, the ministry has carried out numerous assimilative and integrative projects at refineries in Tehran, Arak, Isfahan, Bandar Abbas, Tabriz, Abadan, and Lavan.
He explained that boosting gasoline output, refining gas oil, kerosene, light and heavy naphtha, as well as catalytic conversion were among the projects carried out.
The environmental outcomes of the measures included the reduction of sulfur output by 1,500 tons a day, a 93-percent reduction in benzene emission, and saving on industrial solvents, Jafarzadeh said.
The Iranian government hopes to manage to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12 percent by 2030, Environment Department Director Masoumeh Ebtekar said.
Industrial units in Iran are old-fashioned and energy-consuming, leading to a great rate of greenhouse gas emission.
Currently, over 500 million metric tons of greenhouse gas equivalent of CO2 is produced in Iran each year.
Iran needs $17.5 billion investment domestically to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 4 percent by 2030, an official document obtained by Trend shows.
With further $35 billion of international support, the figure can reach 12 percent, the document says.
The document also added that primary energy (oil products, gas, etc) shares 90 percent in Iran's total emissions.