Two consignments of gas condensate, in addition to liquefied gas, have been shipped to Kenya from Sirri refinery, deputy manager of the refinery said on Tuesday.
"Plans have been made to export more gas condensates to target destinations in the near future by the International Affairs Department of Oil Ministry," Mohammad Reza Safari-Rad was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
According to the official, docks and marine structures have already been constructed in the vicinity of the refinery so that not only very large crude carriers can berth, but also to facilitate gas condensate export.
"The refinery's annual export is worth about $100 million," he said.
Pointing to the fact that a new sour gas sweetening unit will go on stream in Nasr oil rig, Safari-Rad said the refinery's gas output and feedstock input will experience a rise.
"Sirri's NGL refinery has managed to export a wide range of gas products, including propane and butane in addition to natural gas," he said.
The official noted that gas is a viable alternative to other oil byproducts such as diesel.
Asked about gas collected from oilfields around Sirri, the official added that the gas can be transferred to Kish and Sirri islands through two separate pipelines.
According to Safari-Rad, prior to the establishment of Sirri's NGL refinery, gas mixed with oil would go to waste.
"Naphtha, pentane, butane and propane are the four major products of Sirri refinery and several cargoes of these products have been exported since 2013," he said.
Sirri's NGL refinery is the first on the continental shelf. The refinery exports 280,000 barrels of naphtha and 106,000 barrels of butane, earning around $22.2 million for the country. Moreover, its daily gas processing capacity stands at 4 million cubic meters.
The refinery has added 20 million cubic feet of methane and ethane per day to Kish Island's energy grid in the Persian Gulf.
Diesel Export to Africa, Tajikistan
Seyyed Nasser Sajjadi, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, announced that diesel export to African states has commenced.
According to Sajjadi, the International Affairs Department has embarked on shipping the consignments.
On Iran's diesel export to international markets, he noted that 1.7 billion liters of diesel have been exported to global markets since the beginning of the current Iranian year (ending March 19, 2016).
The more new phases of South Pars go on stream, the more revenues will be generated by the export of oil byproducts, especially diesel, as power plants and industries rely on gas feedstock instead of diesel, which also contributes to air pollution.
NIORDC reports show that less than 20 million liters of kerosene and diesel have been consumed per day in the current Iranian year. In other words, kerosene and liquefied gas consumption have witnessed a decline of 15 million and 5 billion liters respectively compared with the corresponding period of last year.
On the markets targeted for Iranian diesel, Sajjadi said regional countries, especially Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, are large markets for the oil product.
"Iran shipped the first diesel consignment of 2.9 million liters to Tajikistan in January 2016 with the aim of reinforcing its presence in international markets," he said.
