Iran is capable of providing Afghanistan with its much-needed oil products for 30 years, managing director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company said on Monday.
“Regarding the two states' low crude oil transaction level, building a pipeline to transfer oil products to Afghanistan is not economically viable,” Abbas Kazemi was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Kazemi expressed Iran's readiness to build an oil refinery in Afghanistan.
Noting that a new oil storage reservoir will go on stream in South Khorasan in the near future, the official said, “The new reservoir can store 100,000 barrels of different oil products.”
According to Kazemi, Iran's oil byproduct exports are holding steady at 400,000 barrels per day.
According to Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Afghanistan is set to purchase up to 1 million tons of diesel from Iran per annum.
Stressing that Iran's diesel export to Afghanistan stands at 200,000 tons per year, the minister said, "Afghans have expressed readiness to increase import by 1 million tons, if negotiations yield positive results."
He added that the idea of exporting compressed natural gas to Afghanistan seems to have an acceptable profit margin, but requires time to develop it.
Commenting on Afghans' interest in importing 200,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas from Iran, Zanganeh said reasonably priced LPG would translate into a win-win deal.
