By exporting more than 1.5 million tons of mazut between May 21 and June 21, Iran set a record in selling the commodity to international markets.
"Exporting mazut has witnessed a rise in the last few months. Moreover, the sale of 10 million barrels of mazut in the said period can translate into a record," Mohsen Qamsari, director of international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company, told Mehr News Agency.
Asked about the target destinations, he noted that the heavy, low quality fuel oil used in generating plants is mainly exported to China, Singapore and some other Asian states.
According to Qamsari, daily mazut output in the Persian Gulf state's oil refineries stand at 100 million liters, which are used as feedstock in some power plants. Nonetheless, the more new phases in the South Pars Gas Field become operational, the more mazut will be replaced by natural gas as feedstock, raising the export level of mazut.
Refineries have reportedly been tasked with reducing their mazut production to10%, yet mazut still accounts for 27% of the country's oil refineries output.
Commenting on a sharp reduction of mazut domestic use, Seyyed Nasser Sajadi, managing director of National Iranian Oil Production and Distribution Company, added that consumption of the commodity has experienced a 45% decline since the beginning of the current Iranian year (started March 20).
According to Sajadi, daily mazut consumption has plummeted to 13.5 million liters during the last three months, indicating a marked drop compared with the corresponding period of last year, standing at 24.5 million liters.
“By exporting 31 million liters of mazut per day, Iran has emerged as the world’s largest Mazut exporter,” he said, noting that Iran has also exported a daily average of 9-9.2 million liters of diesel to international markets, indicating a 100% increase compared to 4.5-5 million liters in the same period of last year.
According to the Oil Ministry officials, surplus mazut capacity amounts to 40 million liters per day, which are either sold via bunkering centers in the Persian Gulf or exported to Fujairah Port in the UAE.
However, due to the extensive export of mazut by Saudis and in particular Russia, which has flooded the Persian Gulf market, not only has the price of this oil product decreased dramatically, but supply also exceeded demand.
Currently, Russia, whose crude production capacity stands at 10 million barrels per day, is among major producers of mazut, most of which were exported to Europe.
