Tehran Municipality should build 110 small filling stations by the end of the current Iranian year, based on a resolution approved by Tehran City Council, said the chairman of the council’s Transportation Commission.
“The National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company intends to build small-scale filling stations and investors have shown interest in this regard,” Jafar Tashakkori was also quoted as saying by ISNA.
“This can be achieved after regular talks are held with the municipality to provide the required land for investors and so far 20 sites in various districts of Tehran have been introduced by the TM,” he added.
According to the plan, 80 gasoline stations and 30 CNG stations will be established in Tehran.
Tehran Province owns 339 filling stations, of which 212 are located in Tehran City.
Currently, about 12 million liters of gasoline are distributed daily in the province.
Filling stations in Tehran are in short supply despite the fact that the number of cars has increased several fold in the past decades and the city has expanded extensively.
To expand infrastructure for promoting compressed natural gas use in vehicles, the construction of low-cost small 100 square-meter CNG filling stations are on the agenda.
Tehran Municipality has agreed to provide land in northern Tehran that has a dearth of CNG stations.
Benefits of CNG
CNG is a much cleaner fuel because its combustion produces less toxic gas compared to other dirty fuels.
Iran ranks fifth in global CNG consumption with over 2,500 CNG stations. Of the 19 million vehicles in Iran, five million plus have hybrid CNG engines and the share of CNG in total fuel consumption is 20%.
More than $2.4 billion were invested in the last decade to expand CNG use and contribute to the global effort to reduce Iran’s CO2 footprint and move to eco-friendly fuels.
Boosting the CNG share in the fuel basket can have multiple advantages, especially as it reduces gasoline demand and air pollution. It is also more economic.
One cubic meter of CNG costs 6,000 rials (1.5 cents), which is about four times cheaper than gasoline. A liter of subsidized gasoline costs 15,000 rials (3.5 cents) and non-subsidized fuel 30,000 rials (7 cents).
Nationwide Plan
A nationwide plan is underway to convert 1.46 million gasoline-powered public transport vehicles and private cars to CNG hybrids, which will include the entire public transport fleet (buses, taxis and vans) plus trucks and pickups.
Converting over 200,000 gasoline-powered public transportation and commercial vehicles into compressed natural gas hybrids has helped save 370 million liters of gasoline over the last three years,
National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company has invested close to $100 million on the scheme so far.
The Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade has set up and certified over 400 conversion centers in 25 provinces and they are equipped with domestically-made kits and tanks.
