Iran's liquefied petroleum gas shipments has risen by 50% to reach 310,000 tons per month, largely to Asia, since 2021.
Oil Minister Javad owji made the statement in a parliamentary hearing last week over criticisms concerning LPG distribution among households and car drivers, IRNA reported.
“Iran’s monthly LPG output stands at 360,000 tons, of which close to 50,000 tons are distributed in the domestic sector and the rest is exported, showing a 50% rise compared to 2020,” he said.
Giving a breakdown, he noted that of the total daily output (12,000 tons), oil refineries, gas refining complexes and petrochemical plants account for 2.3 million tons, 5.7 million tons and 4 million tons of the production respectively.
There are around two million households, mostly in the southern provinces of Sistan-Baluchestan and Kerman, which are not linked to the national gas grid and need LPG for cooking and heating.
The liquid gas can also be used for vehicles in the public transportation sector instead of diesel. Its advantage is that it is a cleaner fuel.
LPG accounts for 2% of the fuel used in the domestic transportation sector. There are at least 1.2 million cars equipped with LPG kits across the country.
Although adding LPG to the fuel basket will reduce gasoline consumption by 15 million liters per day, which can be exported, the Oil Ministry is against it.
Since each ton of LPG can be sold at $500 in international markets and there is high international demand for it, it is more profitable to export it.
Iran's LPG exports have been around 310,000 tons per month recently.
Annual Waste
Based on data from the Oil Ministry and the National Iranian Oil Company, a project to export LPG from Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province, has been launched to help prevent the annual waste of 2,000 tons of LPG that was burned in the past.
Through the marine LPG export plan, Iran will earn up to $360 million of income annually.
It took less than two months to turn a storage center in Bandar Abbas to a center for marine export of LPG.
Hormozgan has been one of the country's energy hubs and it is going to be a major export hub as well.
LPG is a valuable product in the natural gas production chain which, in addition to being used as a fuel, is also used to feed many industries, including petrochemicals.
Despite the very high intrinsic value of this product, unfortunately in recent years, part of the LPG in gas refineries was injected into the national gas network and burnt along with natural gas.
However, one of the priorities of the current administration is to avoid wasting valuable compounds, including LPG.
Infrastructural Measures
By taking fundamental and infrastructural measures such as setting up Siraf Pars Port, completing the remaining units in South Pars refineries and pursuing active marketing for exporting LPG, a significant amount of LPG is saved.
LPG is produced by Bandar Imam Petrochemical Company in the southwestern Khuzestan Province and Fajr Jam Gas Refinery in the southern Bushehr Province.
According to Ardeshir Dadras, head of the Iran CNG Association, so long as cars can run on compressed natural gas, LPG should be used for more useful purposes.
“Iran has some of the world’s largest natural gas resources and grids in the world. Substituting CNG with LPG in the energy mix does not make economic sense.”
He said the capacity to produce LPG is limited. Moreover, there are two million households that are not yet linked to the national gas grid and need LPG for cooking needs.
