Although daily gasoline consumption in Iran has exceeded 100 million liters since March 16, there are no worries regarding the fuel supply during the Norouz (Iranian New Year) holiday season when families travel across the country, director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil company, said.
“NIORDC produces 105 million liters of gasoline per day and even if consumption rises further, there will be no concerns as enough fuel has been stored for the next two weeks,” Jalil Salari was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news portal.
The official noted that the company has sold close to 730 million liters of gasoline since March 2021, which is about 2 million liters per day, but exports will be suspended for the next 14 days to keep stocks full to meet rising domestic demand.
Salari stressed that NIORDC has no plans to import fuel to meet gasoline demand for the Norouz holidays.
“Development projects in Lavan Refinery are complete and the facility can now convert naphtha into gasoline with the help of domestically-produced catalysts. The refinery’s naphtha was exported, but now that the conversion unit is complete and the catalyst is available, exports are halted and naphtha is converted to gasoline,” he said.
“The supply of gasoline, diesel and other oil derivatives across the country is continuing normally and there are no worries in this regard. All refineries are up and running, and petroleum byproducts have been transferred to fuel depots in major cities as usual.”
International Price
Iran has the world's second-cheapest gasoline after Venezuela. While one liter of gasoline in Venezuela costs 2 cents, it is sold for 5 cents in Iran. The average international price for the same fuel is about $1.
Figures released by the Headquarters to Combat Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Exchange show that close to 9 million liters of oil byproducts, including diesel and gasoline, are smuggled daily.
According to Mojtaba Mahfouzi, a lawmaker from Abadan, the huge figure (9 ml/d) indicates that the illicit and dangerous fuel trafficking is a very organized business that cannot be only undertaken by smugglers in and around borders.
“There should be a mafia-like organization behind the scene controlling the whole thing, but what we are seeing is a couple of smugglers. All related organizations and executive bodies in the country should be held accountable for the crime,” he said.
The illicit trade is carried out systemically and with the support of well-placed lobbies that know how to cheat and dodge the law-enforcement agencies.
Among neighbors, Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the main destinations where the smuggled fuel is heading to.
