Equipment in most gas stations across the nation is in dire need of rehabilitation and renewal, the head of Iran Gas Station Owners Union said.
“Gas pumps should be rehabilitated at least once a year, but financial constraints do not permit the owners to fix out-of-service fuel nozzles, or upgrade their tank monitoring systems, automatic tank gauges and flow meters,” Asadollah Qolizadeh was also quoted as saying by ISNA.
Many gas stations are facing serious problems in repairing old dispensers and point-of-sale equipment, as well as in modernizing systems related to fuel management, recirculation and filtering, vapor recovery, secondary containment and diesel exhaust fluid, he added.
Qolizadeh noted that they have neither the spare parts nor adequate funds to undertake such works.
“Most of the nozzles have been working for a very long time and have been fixed many times but stop functioning after a few hours of repairs. Close to 1,000 old nozzles, for example, in southern provinces like Khuzestan are in need of parts that are not available in the domestic market,” he said.
The official stressed that the situation is the same in other regions, as many pumps are either nearing obsolescence or have gone out of use since 2019 because the much-needed parts cannot be imported due to the US sanctions.
Earlier, most gas pump spare parts were imported from the US and Germany, and could be easily found at reasonable prices, but now they can only be found at prohibitive prices and with difficulty.
Qolizadeh said a pump plunger, for instance, cost 40 million rials ($200) two years ago, but the same device now costs $2,000.
What Iran is suffering from is not lack of engineers who can design and produce nozzle parts, but the lack of knowhow to combine different elements and metals to produce superior alloys with anti-corrosion properties.
He official stated that the card system has been in use for more than 12 years but the system's hardware has not been updated, which can expose the card system to cyberattacks.
“There are about 4,000 filling stations across the country and upgrading all the nozzles demands a huge investment,” he added.
Premium Gasoline
According to the official, demand for premium gasoline, marketed as “super” in Iran, has declined by 80% in the current Iranian year’s first nine months (March 21-Dec. 21) compared with the same period of last year.
“Due to low demand [of around 2 million liters per day), the production of premium gasoline is not a priority for the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company,” he added.
Referring to the shortage of premium gasoline (which has an octane level of 91 as opposed to 87 of regular fuel) at most pumps, the official said NIORDC produces limited amounts of this fuel as few station owners order it because of its unsubsidized prices (14 cents per liter).
“Each liter of regular gasoline costs 7 cents and most motorists prefer to buy the cheaper fuel and so filling stations are not interested in purchasing it,” he said.
“Losses caused by evaporation is high in premium gasoline, hence it is not economically feasible to keep it in storage tanks for long periods.”
NIORDC has said the Shazand Refinery in the central city of Arak, Markazi Province, Persian Gulf Star and Bandar Abbas refineries in southern Hormozgan Province as well as Isfahan Oil Refining Company have limited their premium gasoline output.
The gasoline is mainly sold in major cities such as Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Mashhad and Karaj.
