The first propane and second butane cargos of Siri natural gas liquids (NGL) refinery is ready to be shipped to Africa, said the deputy manager, Mohammad Reza Safari Rad.
"The refinery is working with only half of its nominal production capacity," said Mohammad Reza Safari Rad, adding that production will increase once the Kish and Ilam oil fields come on stream, IRNA reported.
Early September, Iranian deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met with South Africa's energy minister to discuss the exchange of energy.
South Africa bought around 68,000 barrels of oil per day from Iran in May 2012, a month before it halted crude purchases due to Western countries pressuring Tehran over its nuclear program.
Siri refinery went operational in early 2013 with a production capacity of 140m cubic feet per day.
According to Safari Rad, prior to the establishment of the Siri NGL refinery, mixed gas with gasoline would go to waste. "Naphtha, pentane, butane and propane are the four major products of the Siri refinery and several cargoes of these products have been exported."
Siri is the first NGL refinery on the continental shelf. The refinery's exports amount to 280,000 barrels of naphtha and 106,000 barrels of butane, bringing in around $22.2 million to the country.
The Siri refinery has added 20 million cubic feet of methane and ethane per day to Kish Island's energy grid in the Persian Gulf.
