The ongoing development programs at the Persian Gulf Star Refinery in the southern Hormozgan Province has helped increase its gasoline production in the first half of the current fiscal year (March 21-Sept. 22) by more than 20% compared with the same period of last year, the refinery’s deputy for production said.
“Despite the increase in summer trips that led to the rise in daily gasoline consumption, there has been no supply disruption due to the surge in gasoline the refinery at the refinery,” Soroush Ziglari was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
The refinery’s current gasoline production stands above 360,000 barrels per day.
Referring to PGSR as the main supplier of gasoline in the country, the official noted that in spite of the imposition of US sanctions, the country has managed to continue work and develop its refining industry by relying on the technical capacities of the domestic knowledge-based companies.
“As the largest gas condensate refinery in the world, PGSR produces more than 40% of gasoline in the country,” he said.
“One of the main goals of the refinery is to produce eco-friendly products. The amount of sulfur in the gasoline produced by the refinery is about 20 times lower than the permitted amount of Euro 5 standards, which has a significant effect on reducing emissions.”
Ziglari stressed that the refinery also seeks to complete the value chain of products in the near future, as it will be transformed into a large and modern petro-refinery in order to produce the products needed by the country and create more added value.
Fourth Phase
The development project to implement the fourth phase of Persian Gulf Star Refinery will start soon and is expected to become operational in 2024.
The new phase is expected to help raise PGSR’s current gasoline output from 360,000 bpd to 480,000 bpd.
Each PGSR phase uses about 120,000 barrels per day of gas condensate, supplied from the giant South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf.
With the launch of fourth phase, the refinery will consume about 500,000 bpd of the fuel, as a strategic move to use the field's gas domestically instead of exporting it.
Gas condensates from SP accounts for 40% of total gasoline output in Iran. South Pars Gas Complex produces 650,000 barrels of gas condensates per day, 500,000 barrels of which are delivered to the Persian Gulf Star Refinery for conversion to gasoline.
Over 100 million liters of gasoline are produced in Iran per day: 40 million liters are from condensates produced from the SP Gas field and the rest is produced by refineries, namely in Tehran, Bandar Abbas, Arak and Isfahan.
Gas condensate is also sold to petrochemical plants in Asalouyeh and Mahshahr in the south as feedstock to produce value-added products and is offered on the international platform of Iran Energy Exchange.
Gas condensate is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids present as gaseous components in unprocessed natural gas.
As Iran increases gas output (1 billion cubic meters per day), gas condensate production is getting a boost to raise gasoline output.
SPGC comprises 75% and 92% of total natural gas and gas condensate output, respectively.
South Pars is the world's largest gas field shared between Iran and Qatar. It is developed in 24 phases, of which 23 are operational.
Environmental Programs
Under pressure from Iran’s Department of Environment, shareholders and oil companies, including PGSR, are investing in environmental preservation plans to “stay green”.
The company has been introduced by the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company 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.
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 the 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 has also installed oxygen analyzers on furnaces and boilers to control the combustion process and reduce gas consumption.
