Iran Reports Higher Gasoline Production

EghtesadOnline: Gasoline inventories show a three-fold increase compared to last year, director of supply and distribution at the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company said Sunday.

News ID: ۷۴۶۶۷۳

12 February 2019

"Gasoline storage capacity was 200,000 million liters in 2017. Now it is 600,000 million liters," Mojtaba Delbari was quoted as saying by IRNA.

Were it not for the Persian Gulf Star Refinery in the southern province of Hormozgan, NIOPDC would have to import 30 million liters of the fuel every day, he said.

As per latest data, domestic gasoline consumption is close to lose to 100 million liters per day, Financial Tribune reported.

The state-owned company recently reported that the nation’s entire need for gasoline is supplied by domestic refineries and as output peaked imports ended in the summer of last year. Gasoline production has reached 105 million liters per day.

Delbari noted that diesel production has also exceeded 100 million liters per day, of which 82 million liters are used in power plants, heavy vehicles and industries. The rest is either added to inventories or exported. Diesel cars are banned in Iran for almost half a century.

"Power plants are generally connected to a special pipeline to receive liquefied fuels if their natural gas supply is cut due to either technical problems or high local consumption in winter," he said. Iran produces 60 million liters of muzut, 50 million liters of which are exported or sent to storage facilities.

Referring to other petroleum products, namely kerosene, he said NIOPDC on average produces seven million liters of this fuel per day that is sold in remote areas of the country not connected to the natural gas grid or stored.

Aversion to CNG

Asked about compressed natural gas, the official said, "CNG output has reached 6,500 tons a day of which 1,000 tons are consumed."

Despite the 9% increase in gasoline consumption in 2018 compared to the previous year, CNG use rose hardly by 2%, indicating motorists' reluctance to buy the eco-friendly fuel.

Price discrepancy between gasoline and CNG is 40%, whereas logically CNG prices should not exceed 20% of gasoline.

A liter of gasoline costs 10,000 rials (10 cents) at the pump and one cubic meter of CNG is sold at 6,000 rials (6 cents).

According to Delbari, 14,000 fuel tankers supply 180 million liters of petroleum products across the country per day.

Transporting fuel via by road is both costly and hazardous, the official noted, adding that extending the national pipelines is on the Oil Ministry agenda.

An estimated 14,000 km of pipelines carry 400 million liters of oil and other petroleum products to different parts of the country on a daily basis.