A parliamentarian said gasoline imports meet Euro-4 standards, referring to published reports by domestic watchdogs, the spokesman of the Iranian Parliament’s Energy Commission said.
Underscoring the need to proceed with investigation of gasoline quality, spokesman of the Majlis Energy Commission, Hossein Amiri-Khamkani, also told ISNA that gasoline is only one of the many factors that exacerbates air pollution.
“A set of factors, including weather conditions and fuel burnt in heating systems and vehicles, are involved in this issue,” he said.
Khamkani noted that most of the heating systems used in domestic and services sectors are not standard.
“Pollution stems partly from automobiles, for which automakers and high fuel consumption are responsible,” he said.
Seyyed Mohsen Qamsari, deputy for international affairs in the National Iranian Oil Company, told Shana that three organizations oversee the quality of imported gasoline with high sensitivity.
“Imported gasoline is checked by three organizations, including the Iranian National Standards Organization, and then distributed across the country,” he said, adding that Iran purchases gasoline from reliable sources.
Officials have asserted that the government is determined to curb the import of low quality gasoline.
In line with the MP’s talks, Qamsari said the gasoline currently entering the country matches Euro-4 standards, adding that the octane number for the imported gasoline is 95, three degrees higher than Euro-4 gasoline standards.
Octane rating or octane number is a standard measure of the performance of an engine or aviation fuel. In simple terms, higher octane number indicates higher quality of gasoline.
On the features of gasoline imported to Iran, the official also said it has maximum 1% benzene and the PPM degree for sulfur, aromatics and olefins is 50, 13 and 18 respectively.
“Due to Iran’s great sensitivity regarding gasoline quality, two imported gasoline cargoes have been returned,” he said.
Iran said last week it denied entry to a gasoline tanker from Turkmenistan due to “the low quality of Turkmen gasoline”.
The NIOC official believes pollution is created mostly because of the household use of gas in winter.
“Gas consumption shows several tenfold increase in the winter compared to summer,” he said.
Abbas Kazemi, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, said it is “unfair” to attribute air pollution to low-quality gasoline.
He added the tests show that since the beginning of Euro-4 gasoline distribution in large cities, the rate of pollutants has decreased remarkably.
