Iran doubles gasoil supplies to power plants

A Saturday report cited Ministry figures showing that the supply of gasoil delivered to power plants across Iran had reached 3.2 billion liters in the six months to September.

The report described the figure as “historic”, adding that the supply had increased by 114% compared to the same period last year.

It said that it is expected that there will be no power cuts in the coming winter in Iran, thanks to the major increase in gasoil inventories in the country's power plants.

Iran introduced scheduled power cuts for the first time in decades in November last year after it faced fuel shortages in power plants.

Official figures published last winter showed that gasoil storage at Iranian power plants had reached 1.81 billion liters in August, down from 3.175 billion liters in August 2023.

The figures also showed that total fuel storage at 146 power plants across Iran, including their storage of mazut, had declined by 36% over the same period, leaving authorities with no option but to impose power cuts.

However, the country quickly ramped up its production of gasoil with refineries in the country reaching a total output record of more than 150 million liters per day in early December, a third of which was supplied to power plants.

The Oil Ministry said on Saturday that it had also increased its supply of natural gas to the Iranian electricity sector in the summer months when power plants came under pressure because of a major rise in demand for cooling.

It said natural gas supplies delivered to power plants in Iran had increased by 2 billion cubic meters (bcm) in the six months to late September compared to the same period last year, to reach 50.2 bcm./isna