Tehran, Iran, Aug. 15
By Mehdi Sepahvand – Trend:
Iran’s Tehran Refinery is one step from producing Euro 5 gasoline, at a time when the country is barely meeting demands to produce and distribute Euro 4 gasoline in its major population centers to fight air pollution.
The refinery will be able to make Euro 5 by increasing the octane number from 87 to 93 and reducing the benzene content by 1 percent, said Aaqi Tajik, engineering director of the refinery’s Isomax and Hydrogen Unit, SHANA news agency reported Aug. 15.
The current gasoline output comes with no sulfur or olefin, he noted.
Of the 62 million liters per day (mlpd) of Iran’s domestically produced gasoline, only 29 mlpd meet the Euro 4 standard.
Deputy Oil Minister and CEO of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) Abbas Kazemi told Trend June 29 that during the current Iranian fiscal year (to end March 20), the country will need to import 8 mlpd of gasoline.
Iran is expected to raise the need for gasoline import in a number of months.
“Bandar Abbas Refinery’s gasoline units will come on stream in late September. Our largest development project is the Persian Gulf Star which is operated privately. It is meant to produce 36 mlpd of Euro 4 gasoline,” the deputy minister told Trend.