Iran will stop importing gasoline next year
Iran will stop importing gasoline next year (will start on March
21, 2015), Shahrokh Khosravani, deputy director of National Iranian
Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) said.
Khosravani added that some 5 million liters of gasoline has been
imported on average per day since the beginning of the current
year, Fars news agency reported on November 26.
Once the gasoline production unit of Isfahan Refinery and the
Persian Gulf Star Refinery come on stream, there will be no need to
import gasoline, he noted.
The gasoline production unit of Isfahan Refinery will produce four
million liters of gasoline per day meeting Euro-4 standards, he
said, adding that the first phase of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery
is projected to come on stream next year.
On Sept. 15, Khosravani said that the Islamic Republic has
decreased gasoline imports to 4.7 million liters per day from the
forecast figure of 10 million liters, thanks to suitable storage
and consumption management.
Iran used to import 40 percent of its needed gasoline by 2009. But,
the international sanctions forced it to produce gasoline
domestically through adding lead or some poisonous chemical
catalysts such as MTBE to the product. MTBE is a highly poisonous
substance which causes cancer. It is banned worldwide to be used
for gasoline production.
The administration of President Hassan Rouhani ordered to stop the
distribution of substandard gasoline. Rouhani has said that the
situation has improved in large cities which are being supplied
with euro-4 gasoline.
Iran seeks to be able to daily produce 12 million liters of
gasoline conforming to Euro-5 standard in the first half of the
next Iranian calendar year (to start March 21, 2015).
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that once the
Persian Gulf Star refinery comes on stream, Iran will be able to
produce gasoline conforming to Euro-5 standard, Iran's IRNA News
Agency reported on August 30.