The first cargo of oil byproduct was loaded at Asalouyeh in the southern Bushehr Province and left the port for an unnamed destination in the Persian Gulf region.
Although Asalouyeh is the largest port for petrochemical export in the Middle East, it has emerged as an oil byproduct hub as of June 18, 2016, embarking on the export of mazut, Shana reported.
The export hub also provides fuel bunkering services, facilities for storing oil products in tanks and the business of refueling ships.
"Due to the surge in natural gas production from South Pars new phases and its replacement of liquefied fuel in power plants, there is a surplus of oil byproducts, especially mazut and diesel," Saeed Khoshrou, deputy marketing manager in the National Iranian Oil Company, said.
Reportedly, power plants received 38, 50 and 58 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively, saving the country as much as $6 billion.
Plans call for providing the power plants with 65 billion cubic meters of gas in 2016.
Mazut Exports
According to Seyyed Nasser Sajjadi, managing director of National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, with a daily export of 31 million liters, Iran has become the world’s largest Mazut exporter and NIOC cannot take care of exporting it alone.
As a result, Faraskou Asalouyeh Company, provider of services for storage, transit, export, regional fuel distribution and bunkering, helps NIOC expedite the oil byproducts' export process.
FAC, which enjoys unique advantages, including breakwaters, stilling basin and strategic location, can provide onshore and offshore bunkering for vessels in the region, particularly in Pars Special Economic Energy Zone. It also specializes in port services, including berthing vessels into the stilling basin, establishing major repair shops for refineries and petrochemical companies' machinery, in addition to trading, storage, transportation of oil products.
Located in a 50-hectare site with a 1,100-meter shoreline strip, jetties' depth of 10 to 15 meters capable of mooring ships up to 60,000 tons, FAC's terminal can operate as the largest specialized oil byproducts export port as its potential offshore load is 10 million tons per annum.
