"The 20-inch 420-km Nain-Kashan-Rey pipeline plus the 26-inch 300-km Shazand-Qom-Rey are now operational, expanding the supply network by 700 km," Mojtaba Besharatian was quoted as saying by ILNA.
The first pipeline, built at a cost of $55 million, moves 30 million liters of gasoline per day from Persian Gulf Star Refinery in southern Hormozgan Province to Tehran. The venture includes 10 crude storage tanks with 300 million liters capacity, two pumping stations in Nain and Kashan plus a terminal in Rey.
Nain-Kashan-Rey pipeline was a macro plan that took four years to be completed. Without the pipeline, thousands of tankers would be needed to move the petroleum products, Financial Tribune reported.
"Close to 50,000 tons of metal pipes were used to complete the plan and the pumps were manufactured by local engineers."
According to the IOPTC website, the company annually sells over 45 billion liters of crude and petroleum products to the northern regions.
The Tehran office covers northern provinces, namely Gilan, Mazandaran, North Khorasan, South Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi, Semnan, Golestan, Qazvin and Zanjan.
IOPTC is a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company.
14,000km of Pipelines
Referring to the second plan (Shazand-Qom-Rey pipeline), Besharatian said it carries petroleum products from Shazand Refinery in Arak, Markazi Province, to Tehran. The pipeline cost $36 million and was built in five years.
Close to 14,000 km of oil and petroleum pipelines are in use in the country, of which 5,000 km are used to transfer crude and the rest transport diesel, Euro-4 diesel, gasoline, Euro-5 gasoline, kerosene and jet fuel. Pipelines carry 123 billion liters of oil and byproducts per year, he said.
An estimated 340 million liters of oil and other products are transported daily via pipelines, indicating a 65% rise over the past 40 years.
In the absence of expanded pipelines the company would need 60,000 fuel trucks to deliver the products.
According to Abbas-Ali Jafari-Nasab, the IOPTC chief, crude oil and byproduct pipelines in Iran on average are 35 years old. “However, with rehabilitation and using new coating we can enhance the lifespan of the pipelines.”
Augmenting Safety
The official said his company is employing new methods such as intelligent pigging of pipelines, curbing corrosion of metals by using cathodic protection technique and regular inspections of installations to reduce accidents and augment safety.
Referring to installations in Tehran, he said the main pipelines include the 14-inch Ray-Tabriz link, the 18" Ray-Qazvin- Rasht pipeline, the 22" Ray-Shahroud connection and the 16" Ray-Sari pipeline.
The company also supplies power plants with diesel in Tehran, Alborz and Gilan provinces if and when they have a shortage of gas that is the main feedstock.
Repair and renovation of pipelines is carried out on a regular basis for sustainable and safe delivery of crude oil and byproducts.