Operations to connect Shahid Salimi (Neka) Power Station in Mazandaran Province to the national oil pipeline network have been completed, managing director of the Iranian Oil Pipeline and Telecommunications Company said.
"The 350-km pipeline will transfer mazut and diesel from Tehran Oil Refining Company to Sari in Mazandaran Province, which would then be pumped to the thermal power station," the Oil Ministry’s news portal also quoted Arsalan Rahimi as saying.
In the absence of the pipeline, IOPTC would have needed at least 10,000 fuel trucks to deliver close to 1 billion liters of liquefied fuel to the power plant per annum, he added.
The company’s managing director said plans are underway to connect at least 10 other power plants to the national oil pipeline grid so that they can have easier access to diesel and mazut.
Most gas-powered units in Iran are deprived of natural gas in the cold season when household natural gas consumption peaks and they have to burn eco-unfriendly mazut to generate power.
Rahimi added that five new pipelines are about to become operational, namely Nain-Kashan-Rey pipeline, Bandar Abbas-Rafsanjan pipeline, Tabriz-Khoy-Urmia pipeline, Shahzand (in Arak, Markazi Province)-Rey pipeline and Ahvaz-Rey.
The construction of new pipelines to transfer petroleum products to southern oil terminals tops the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company’s agenda, as this approach has priority over other means of supply such as tanker trucks.
According to the official, a new pipeline has been designed to transport refined oil products, especially Euro-4 gasoline, from the Persian Gulf Star Refinery in Bandar Abbas to Tehran and other cities in the central and northern regions.
Air Pollution
Rahimi said moving oil derivatives by road doubles the risk of accidents and adds to air pollution.
The cost and risk of road transport are high because tanker trucks are basically used for transportation over short distances.
“In terms of energy supply, road transport is the least efficient,” he said, noting that the approximate cost of moving a barrel of oil by road is five times more than the pipeline.
Another important variable is the safety factor.
Data released by NIORDC show trucking oil has a higher fatality rate compared to other means of transportation, such as railroads and pipelines.
Road transport for transporting oil and other products remains crucial due to the lack of rail infrastructure. But this mode is also the riskiest compared to other supply systems and poses the biggest threat to human life, economic cost and the environment.
IOPTC, a subsidiary of NIORDC, is in charge of transporting crude oil and petroleum products across the country.
“There was no serious issue regarding our pipelines during this period," he said, adding that the pipelines are monitored 24/7.
An estimated 128 billion liters of crude oil and petroleum byproducts were transported daily via pipelines in 2021, indicating a 65% rise over the last 40 years.
Around 68 billion liters of crude and 60 billion liters of derivatives, including gasoline, were transferred through pipelines last year.
Close to 14,000 km of petroleum pipelines are up and running in the country, of which 11,000 km were laid in the last four decades.
Fuel Trucks
Located 25 km north of Neka City, the 2,000-megawatt Shahid Salimi Power Station is one of the largest of its kind in Iran. It has a steam power unit, four steam turbines, a combined-cycle power facility, two gas units and a steam unit.
“Thanks to burning at least 2 million liters of mazut in the power station, village dwellers in and around the plant have long been suffering from skin diseases, respiratory conditions and eye problems over the last decade, but their complaints have fallen on deaf ears,” Jamal Aboutalebi, the head of Zaghmarz Islamic Council in Miankaleh County, said.
The facility is allowed to burn the eco-unfriendly fuel only between January and March when there is a shortage of natural gas due to high household consumption. Nonetheless, it has been burning the polluting fuel non-stop for the last five years.
In addition to endangering public health, the air polluting fuel has adversely affected not only agricultural activities and poultry farming but also livestock breeding sector in the region that is a farming hub in the northern province, he added.
