Zanganeh: Iran to export gasoline in large cargos next year
Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Sunday that Iran is now enjoying surplus in gasoline production and will soon start exporting gasoline after registering reliable amounts in inventories.
“Gasoline exports have started in small quantities, but we are currently trying to store the fuel and boost our inventories… We will put gasoline exports high on our agenda in the next (Iranian) year (to start March 21),” Zanganeh was quoted as saying by Shana.
Iran became self-sufficient in gasoline production back in February after the inauguration of the third phase of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery (PGSR) in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas.
On February 18, it was announced that the Persian Gulf Star Refinery (PGSR) in southern Iran was then producing 103 million liters of high-quality gasoline per day with its three phases in full swing.
“Making the country needless to import gasoline, the threephase mega project will annually create over $800 million added value in the oil and gas industries,” Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) Alireza Sadeqabadi said.
He noted that the PGSR, located in the port city of Bandar Abbas in Iran’s southern province of Hormuzgan, aims to enable the country export fuel and other high-value products.
With full implementation of PGSR, the official said, the country’s gasoline output has now reached 103 million liters per day, while Iranian’s consume an average of 87 million liters per day of the strategic fuel.
“This can turn the country into a potential exporter of the fuel,” he said.
He noted that with the PGSR going on full swing, domestic gasoline production in compliance with Euro-5 standards will rise to 45 million liters per day.
The third phase of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery, known as the world’s largest gas condensate refinery, was launched in February in the presence of President Hassan Rouhani and Zanganeh.
The construction of the fourth phase of the megaproject has started and is expected to be completed in two years.
Each of the four phases is designed to produce 12 million liters per day of high-octane gasoline, 4.5 ml/d of Euro-4 diesel, 1ml/d of kerosene and 3 million liters of LPG a day.
Each phase uses about 120,000 barrels per day of gas condensate supplied from the South Pars Gas Field. When the fourth phase is up and running the refinery will consume 500,000 bpd of fuel.
According to Zanganeh, Iran’s gasoline production capacity in 2014 was 52 ml/d. while the output has topped 100 ml/d over the course of five years.
Persian Gulf Star Refinery is the world’s largest gas condensate refinery. Over 70 percent of the equipment needed for building the facility was supplied by domestic manufacturers and almost all the installation and implementation projects were carried out by Iranian experts.