Iran's export of oil byproducts, namely diesel and mazut, in the Iranian month that started on July 22 averaged 61 million liters per day, the managing director of National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company said.
“This is while 56 million liters of oil products were exported daily in the past 141 days [since the start of the current Iranian year on March 20, 2016],” Seyyed Nasser Sajjadi was also quoted as saying by Shana.
Sajjadi added that in the past four and a half months, 44 million liters of mazut and 13 million liters of diesel were exported per day, which created a record high.
Referring to the incremental trend of oil byproducts' export this year, the official said the country has boosted mazut and diesel sales to 47 ml/d and 14 ml/d respectively in the last 18 days.
“Iran’s diesel export amounted to 3 million liters a day last year, which witnessed a fourfold rise this year,” he said.
According to Sajjadi, Iran’s southern ports have been equipped to facilitate the transfer of the huge volumes of mazut and diesel.
Iran has exported an average of 1.5 million liters of Euro-4 diesel per day from Mahshahr Port in the southern Khuzestan Province in the first four months of this year, which is the first time diesel compliant with Euro-4 standards being exported from the port’s oil terminal to global markets, Mehr News Agency reported.
Mohammad Baqer Dakhili, the head of Tabriz Refinery, also told IRNA last month that it will start the production of diesel compatible with the Euro-5 emission standards as soon as the refinery’s desulfurization becomes operational.
Dakhili added that the project will be developed at an estimated cost of $135 million and plans call for encouraging domestic firms to participate and invest.
According to reports, it was not until 2014 that Iran stopped importing diesel. The country bought massive amounts of diesel from international markets before 2014 to meet rising demand from power plants and the transportation sector.
Nonetheless, as the South Pars Gas Field project gradually went on stream, diesel was replaced with natural gas and the country turned into a key player in exporting diesel to regional markets, namely Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Armenia.
Sajjadi stressed that due to the decline in domestic consumption, diesel exports are predicted to exceed 20 million liters per day by next March.
