Export of petroleum products (naphtha, diesel and gasoline) from the Persian Gulf Star Refinery, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company in the port city of Bandar Abbas, experienced a 200% growth in 2020 compared to a year ago, the refinery’s managing director said.
“An estimated 1.6 million tons of oil derivatives went to international markets in 2020,” Oil Ministry’s news service also quoted Mohammad Ali Dadvar as saying.
“The US sanctions and fluctuations in oil prices notwithstanding, exporting gasoline is on the government agenda. Whenever there is an inventory surplus, it can be sold via Iran Energy Exchange [with less difficulty compared to crude].”
According to the PGSR chief, the higher production of value-added goods means unfair penalties can be evaded with fewer problems.
Dadvar says fluctuations in crude prices, which directly affect petroleum products’ prices, are of significant interest to both financial practitioners and market participants.
“Oil price is one of the most complex and difficult to model because volatilities of the price are irregular. Therefore, accurate forecasting of crude oil price is one of the biggest challenges and among the most important issues facing PGSR in takings better decisions to raise its profit margin,” he said.
“The refining complex takes advantage of different techniques to project oil prices, one of which is artificial neural network that offers an effective approach for handling large amounts of dynamic and nonlinear data.”
The PGSR chief noted that in addition to curtailing domestic diesel and gasoline consumption, finding new customers can help the company boost international trade.
“Selling gasoline on Iran Energy Exchange started in 2019, but it is not sold on the bourse on a regular basis,” he said.
Regarding PGSR's expansion plans, he said construction work is over on the first stage of the fourth phase of the plant in Hormozgan Province off the Persian Gulf.
"The project raised the refinery's condensate processing capacity by 40,000 barrels or 11%," he added.
Euro-5 Gasoline
According to Dadvar, the production of Euro-5 compliant gasoline at PGSR has exceeded 47 million liters per day, up 30% compared to 2018.
"NIORDC produces 90 million liters of Euro-5 gasoline, of which 52% are produced by PGSR and the rest by Shazand Refinery in Arak, Markazi Province, Tabriz Refinery in East Azarbaijan and Bandar Abbas Refinery in Hormozgan Province," he said.
Shazand Refinery started to produce 17 million liters of Euro-5 gasoline per day in 2014. Output reached 28 ml/d in 2016, which increased to 43 ml/d in 2019 after the Bandar Abbas and Tabriz refineries joined in.
The first phase of PGSR went on stream in mid-2017. Developed in four phases, 400,000 barrels per day of gas condensate ares supplied to the complex from the South Pars Gas Field.
European emission standards define the acceptable limits for exhaust emissions of vehicles sold in the European Union. The emission standards are defined in a series of European Union directives that made a progressive introduction of increasingly stringent standards.
In related news, ISNA quoted Mehrdad Dehdari, the refinery’s health, safety and environment director, as saying that oil companies are now more anxious about their public image than before, especially regarding the impact of their operations on the environment.
Environmental Preservation Plans
Under pressure from the Department of Environment, activists and shareholders, oil companies, including PGSR, are investing in environmental preservation plans to “stay green”.
The company has been introduced by NIORDC as a top refiner that has made increasing efforts to help preserve the environment, including expansion of green spaces, using wastewater, curbing pollutants and improving energy management, he said.
According to environmental laws, industries and production units should allocate 10% of their total area to green space. PGSR has 40 hectares of green space.
“The plant has increased output of its wastewater treatment unit to 275,000 liters per hour to use reclaimed wastewater instead of depleting groundwater resources.”
PGSR is equipped with two sulfur recovery units, two purification units with sour water strippers (SWS) and two gas purification units with amine treating units.
SWS is one of the first stages in the wastewater treatment process in refineries. Water streams from throughout a refinery are typically sent to a stripper, which is designed to remove both H2S and ammonia from the water.
To reduce air pollutants, the huge refinery uses natural gas instead of liquid fuels like mazut as feedstock in furnaces and boilers. It also has installed oxygen analyzers on furnaces and boilers to control the combustion process and reduce gas consumption.
