Zanganeh: Iran Has Achieved Self-Sufficiency in Gasoline Production and Even Its Export
Iran’s Oil Minister announced an “unprecedented surge” in gasoline production in Iran. According to him, Iran can be “among potential gasoline exporters” in the region. This comes as an autumn plan to ration 20 liters of gasoline per month for each person was reviewed.
Bijan Zanganeh, Iran’s Oil Minister, said on Monday, February 18, at the inauguration ceremony of the third phase of the “Persian Gulf Star” refinery, that there has been an “unprecedented and historic surge” in the country’s gasoline production over the past five years. He presented statistics showing that the country’s base gasoline production capacity, which was 58 million liters per day in 2012, reached 101 million liters per day in February 2019 with a 50 million liter increase and doubled growth.
According to Bijan Zanganeh, by the end of the current year, this production will exceed 105 million liters per day. He also spoke about Iran’s gasoline production capacity, stating that its production has increased sevenfold since 2012 and reached 44 million liters per day.
The Oil Minister announced that Iran will no longer need to import gasoline. He said that due to the implementation of a quality improvement plan at refineries in Arak, Isfahan, Bandar Abbas, Persian Gulf Star, and Tabriz, the gasoline produced meets Euro quality standards, a quality that did not exist in 2012.
Sanctions and Environmental Damage
One of the most important pollutants in Iran has been domestic low-quality gasoline. The problem of contamination in domestically produced distributed gasoline—petrochemical—was first raised in June 2010 by Masoumeh Ebtekar, then head of the Tehran City Council’s Environmental Committee. ISNA news agency, citing Youssef Rashidi, CEO of Tehran’s Air Quality Control Company, reported that he also raised similar concerns two months later in September of that year, stating that Tehran’s air pollution was concentrated on ozone and hydrocarbons resulting from gasoline evaporation.
However, officials of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration insisted that the quality of gasoline and diesel produced in petrochemical complexes met standards and their use caused no problems.
Now Iran’s Oil Minister says that the implementation of refining plans “is mainly aimed at improving the quality of petroleum products and environmental protection,” but the financing of these plans has been mainly carried out by European countries, which have been halted due to the pressure of American sanctions, “and this has caused significant environmental damage.”
The “Donya-ye Eqtesad” newspaper wrote: “The Persian Gulf Star refinery project, as the most modern refinery in the Middle East, was launched in 2006 on an area of approximately 730 hectares, 25 kilometers west of Bandar Abbas. The refinery’s feedstock is supplied through pipelines 388 kilometers long and 90 centimeters in diameter with a capacity to receive 500,000 barrels per day, passing through difficult-to-access areas of Bushehr, Fars, and Hormozgan provinces.”
Moving Beyond Self-Sufficiency to Export of Refined Products
According to “Donya-ye Eqtesad,” with the launch of the third phase of the “Persian Gulf Star” refinery, 50 percent of Iran’s daily gasoline consumption will be supplied. “Donya-ye Eqtesad” also quoted the Oil Minister as saying that the daily production of 12 million liters of naphtha and white oil and 3 million liters of liquefied petroleum gas products are the achievements of launching the new phase, and with this, Iran can be considered “among potential gasoline exporters and an influential hub for this product and other refined products in the region.”
“Self-Sufficiency” Alongside Gasoline Rationing and Smuggling
This is not the first time officials have spoken of self-sufficiency in gasoline production. About eight years ago, it was announced that Iran had achieved self-sufficiency in gasoline production.
Now, too, Iran’s Oil Minister speaks of self-sufficiency and even export of Euro-quality gasoline shortly after it was announced in December that the Research Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly was conducting studies on the basis of which 20 liters of gasoline would be given to every Iranian per month at a price of 10,000 rials.
Ahmad Amirabad Farahani, a member of the parliament’s board of directors, told the Tasnim news agency that the purpose of this plan was “to prevent gasoline smuggling, help the household economy, and equalize gasoline prices.”
Kazem Jalali, head of the parliament’s research center, also said: “In such a situation, every Iranian can earn 60,000 tomans per month by selling their gasoline ration at the free price, which for a five-member family amounts to 300,000 tomans per month.”
Two weeks ago, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence announced that it had identified three fuel smuggling rings in the cities of Marvdasht, Kazerun, and Lamerd in Fars Province and arrested 15 main members of this smuggling network. According to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence, these three rings had managed to collect more than 17 million liters of fuel in the form of smuggling and “off-network supply” during their operation and, with the help of “brokers,” had exported it from the country.
Official statistics on fuel smuggling in Iran are not released, but some members of the parliament’s Energy Committee report daily fuel smuggling from Iran to neighboring countries at 10 to 20 million liters. The head of the parliament’s research center recently warned about the continuation of fuel smuggling, saying that if fuel smuggling continues, we will be forced to import gasoline.
Source: DW
