Production of premium gasoline, marketed as "super", will restart in Isfahan Oil Refinery in Isfahan Province, and at Imam Khomeini Oil Refining Company in Shazand in Arak, Markazi Province, from next week, said the spokeswoman of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company on Sunday.
According to Ziba Esmaili, premium gasoline consumption currently accounts for barely 3% of the total domestic gasoline consumption, ISNA reported.
She said Euro-4 gasoline, as the main gasoline, does “not differ much” in terms of quality with premium gasoline.
Regular gasoline in Iran has an octane number of 92 and the number for the premium quality is 95.
Head of Iran Gas Station Owners Union Bijan Haj-Mohammadreza had earlier said that the octane number for Euro-4 gasoline is higher than that of premium gasoline and that it is a misconception among consumers that only premium gasoline is unleaded.
Premium gasoline, which is sold in major cities such as Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz and Mashhad, was not available in most gas stations in the past three months.
A variety of reasons was given for the shortage. The Oil Ministry in July said it was “due to technical problems” associated with moving the fuel from refineries to destinations.
NIORDC announced that four refineries in Markazi, Isfahan and Hormozgan provinces “had limited their premium gasoline output.” It did not say why.
Another reason for the shortage then was said to be that Shazand Refinery was being overhauled.
The problem was even linked to the Oil Ministry's storing fuel for the time after new US sanctions would come into effect, as the top priority was to be prepared for all contingencies, namely availability of regular gasoline across the country.
Washington reinstated a series of unilateral economic sanctions against Iran in August and is getting ready to reimpose oil export restrictions in November.
