Accelerating the process of setting up the Persian Gulf Star Refinery is one of the achievements of the Oil Ministry in refining and distribution sectors in the current Iranian year ending on March 19.
The refinery, located in Asalouyeh in Bushehr Province, has made progress by 86% until November 2015, while the percentage was 69.5% in October 2013, Shana reported.
Another achievement of the ministry in the sector is preparing the ground for establishing eight small refineries, with each having a refining capacity of 60,000 barrels of gas condensates per day, in Siraf in Asalouyeh.
For the projects, which are worth about $3 billion, eight private companies were chosen as contractors through a tender floated by the ministry.
Some pieces of land, on which the refineries are to be built, have been handed over to the companies and basic design studies of the projects are currently being conducted. Upon the completion of the projects, Iran’s refining capacity will increase dramatically, allowing for less export of gas condensates and more added value products in return.
The Oil Ministry halted substandard gasoline production in petrochemical units and replaced it with the import of Euro-4 gasoline. With an increase in Euro-4 gasoline production, imports declined significantly.
Currently, seven Iranian metropolises are supplied with Euro-4 fuel, which has improved their environmental conditions. Raising the production of purified gasoline and diesel in Shazand, Tehran and Tabriz refineries was another activity of the ministry during the year.
Meanwhil, all units of Lavan Oil Refining Company, except isomerization and recycling sections, which will go on stream by the end of the year, have become operational. Other refining projects include the completion of gasoline production units in Tabriz, Esfahan and Abadan refineries.
Likewise, the sulfur recovery unit of Abadan Refinery, which has a capacity of 100 tons a day, went on stream during the period.
The average daily production of gasoline in the past two years amounted to 67.5 and 64.9 million liters respectively, with the volume being 66.8 million liters within the eight-month period ending November 2015.
Of the total production of gasoline in the period, about 23 million liters account for premium gasoline.
According to data, Iran produced 90.1 million liters of diesel, 9.1 million liters of kerosene, 10.1 million liters of liquefied gas and 62.4 million liters of mazut on a daily average. Light products accounted for 66% and 68% of the total production from the domestic refineries in the past two years respectively, while the share rose by 68.4% in the eight-month period, which shows an increase in value-added products during the tenure of the incumbent government.
The Persian Gulf country exported 31.6 million liters of petroleum products per day over the eight months.
