In the first seven months of the Iranian calendar year (ends in March) more than $1.4 billion worth of gasoline was exported to Iraqi Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Armenia and some African states.
According to IRNA, gasoline comprised 13% of the total export in the period (March-October 2020) worth $10.6 billion. Gasoline export is being promoted to reduce expanding inventory of the fuel due falling domestic demand caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Similar to most countries hit by the plague, gasoline demand in Iran has plunged as people avoid travel and family/social gatherings due to extended lockdowns as the deadly disease spreads. So far health authorities have registered over 1.240 million coronavirus cases and 56,000 deaths.
According to Mehdi Mirasharfi, head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, the US economic siege notwithstanding, Iran has been exporting gasoline since 2019. Industry data show the government has boosted exports three-fold. Gasoline export revenue was $490 million in 2019, he said.
The Oil Ministry started offering oil products, namely gasoline and diesel, on the Iran Energy Exchange (IRENEX) in 2019 after the initiative to sell crude oil on the bourse flopped.
“The National Iranian Oil Company imported close to 30 million liters of gasoline in 2006 to meet the growing demand that then was 50 ml/d.”
As domestic refineries expanded capacity, imports declined to 3 ml/d in 2018 when demand was 90 ml/d. Iran became a gasoline exporter a year later after inauguration of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery. Domestic gasoline production is 692,000 bpd or 110 million liters a day, Mirashrafi said.
Daily Consumption
Daily gasoline use now is between 410,000-440,000 barrels (65 to 70 million liters per day), down 15% from last June when there was a brief recovery following an easing of lockdown measures.
Demand plunged between March 15 and April 15 to less than 35 million liters per day due to the virus leading to huge gasoline inventories unseen in the past century. Capacity at PGSR has reached 480,000 barrels per day.
Currently, an average of 45 million liters of gasoline and 17 million liters of diesel is produced daily in the refinery. Output of the two fuels is planned to increase to 54 and 20 million liters per day by mid-2021.
The refinery uses gas condensates from South Pars, the world's largest gas field shared by Iran and Qatar in the Persian Gulf, which has been crucial in eliminating the need for costly gasoline imports.
“Gasoline sales never exceeded 75 ml/d in the last ten months in Iran. This is while the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, a subsidiary of the NIOC, had predicted that in 2020 consumption would surpass 120 ml/d,” the IRICA chief recalled.
