Gasoline Shipments Impounded

EghtesadOnline: Iran National Standards Organization (INSO) blocked the entry of one-third of foreign gasoline cargoes in the previous fiscal year (ended in March) that failed to meet its standards, said the organization chief Nayyereh-Sadat Pirouzbakht.

News ID: ۷۷۷۳۰۴

30 June 2017

"Last year 36 foreign gasoline consignments entered Iranian ports, but 12 cargoes were denied entry after the INSO tests showed the fuels did not meet the necessary standards," Pirouzbakht was quoted as saying by ILNA on Wednesday.

The organization  oversees the quality of a wide range of imported goods.

"Most goods and cargoes get customs clearance after the INSO tests and approval… claims about distributing gasoline with high levels of contaminants is unfounded," Financial Tribune quoted Pirouzbakht as saying.

INSO uses its own benchmarks for testing the fuel.

"Our standard requirements are different from the Euro-4 and Euro-5 emission standards [because] we have more rigorous standards than Euro-4 and Euro-5 requirements to curb air pollution in mega cities," she noted.

European emission standards define the acceptable limits for vehicles' exhaust emissions.

Authorities say that domestic gasoline producers also under close watch.

According to Saeed Mahjoubi, head of the quality control department at the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, INSO, the Air Quality Control Company and municipalities closely monitor gasoline production in domestic refineries.

“Random samples of domestic gasoline are taken [by these organizations] and sent to major international laboratories, including one in Germany, for further testing,” he said.

Iran imports an average of 10 million liters of gasoline every day to meet domestic demand, down almost 2 million liters from the previous fiscal, government data show. Domestic output is estimated at close to 60 million liters daily. Iranians burned almost 74 million liters of gasoline daily in the previous fiscal. The government had to import 12 ml/d to meet the shortfall.

Vice president and environment chief Massoumeh Ebtekar recently said that Euro-4 quality gasoline is sold in two dozen cities, but plans are in place to expand retail sale of the high grade fuel to all cities within three years as part of efforts to curb the worsening air pollution.