Surplus production and export capacity at Iranian refineries has increased to almost 70 million liters a day, and as the new phases at the major South Pars fields come on stream, gas production will rise boosting oil byproduct export capacity of not only gasoil, liquefied natural gas and kerosene, but also mazut and fuel jet, head of the intentional affairs of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company said, Mehr News Agency reported Friday.
Pointing to the finalization of jet fuel export contracts with Afghanistan and the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, Esmail Hasham Firouz said Iran will "turn into a key player in exporting gasoil to the regional markets" as soon as all SP development projects come on stream. He did not elaborate on the details of the two foreign agreements.
According to the official, the present surplus production capacity stands as follows: gasoil 25 million liters, mazut 41million liters, kerosene 4 million and LNG one million liters per day.
Categorizing oil product export routes into two groups, Hasham Firouz noted that as per the Oil Ministry's instruction, the National Iranian Oil Co. will export oil products by sea, whereas the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company will do so by land.
"For some time now Iran has been exchanging oil products with the neighboring countries including Central Asia, Armenia, Iraq and Pakistan," said the manger, adding that Iran's private companies supply half of Pakistan's LNG needs, that is roughly 3,000 tons a day.
Iran holds the world’s second biggest natural gas reserves after Russia, and the fourth-largest proved crude oil reserves. Iran holds 17% of the world's proved natural gas reserves and more than one-third of OPEC's reserves. Its largest natural gas field, South Pars, is estimated to hold roughly 40% of Iran's gas reserves.
South Pars is the world's largest gas field, shared between Iran and Qatar, covering an area of 3,700 square kilometers of Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. It adjoins Qatar’s North Field, which measures 6,000 square kilometers.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4) that has been converted to liquid form for ease of storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume of natural gas in the gaseous state. It is odorless, colorless, non-toxic and non-corrosive.
