The company's output now exceeds consumption by 10 million liters a day creating ample scope for export.
NIORDC production capacity has reached 115 ml/d at a time when consumption is near 90 ml/d.
Company data show that between1974 and 1976 gasoline was never imported. With rapid increase in local auto output and imports, gasoline import became a norm -- climbing to 4 million in 1987 and 17 million liters a day in 2008, according to Financial Tribune.
However, imports fell between 2013 and 2016, declining to 7 ml/d.
"In 2017 when the Persian Gulf Star Refinery's first phase went on stream in Hormozgan Province, imports halved to 3.5 ml/d," the company said.
"NIORDC stopped importing gasoline last September,” Alireza Sadeqabadi, the firm's CEO said.
An average of 90 million liters of gasoline is used inside the country every day that is 1.12 liters per capita. The figure is 1.08, 0.91, 0.42, 0.22 and 0.05 in Malaysia, Russia, Brazil, China and India respectively.
Iranians bought 73 million liters of gasoline per day in 2015, which rose by 8% to reach 80 million liters/d one year later.
Consumption again increased in 2017 reaching 88 million liters/d and since 2018 consumption has been hovering around 90 ml/d.
Stable and Satisfactory
Production of regular and high-octane gasoline has stabilized thanks to PGSR’s daily output of 36 million liters per day. Moreover, gasoline production and inventories are at satisfactory levels, Sadeqabadi asserted.
Earlier reports carried by the state-run company put gasoline inventories at 400 million liters.
"Not only is the fuel exported, namely to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf littoral states and the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, but also on the energy stock exchange," Sadeqabadi was quoted as saying by ISNA.
Other types of fuels including kerosene, diesel and jet fuel are also exported, especially to Arab neighbors, the head of NIORDC said.
For the first time in the history of Iran’s oil industry, 3,000 tons of Euro-5 gasoline was sold via the international ring of Iran Energy Exchange last week. The sale was part of a total of 10,000 tons of gasoline offered on the energy bourse by NIORDC on Wednesday.