New Law Specifies Energy Roadmap

Parliament passed a bill on Saturday defining a roadmap for energy consumption and production over the next four years. The bill was part of the legislation for the sixth five-year economic, social and cultural development plan (2016-21).

The law now obliges the government to reduce energy wastage in state-owned buildings by 5% annually over the next four years, IRNA reported.

Government is further obliged to raise the processing capacity for crude oil and gas condensates to 2.7 million barrels per day and reduce the capacity for mazut, a polluting fuel, to 10% or lower by 2021.

Iran's crude refining capacity is reportedly 1.85 million barrels per day. Officials say the capacity will reach 3.2 million bpd upon the launch of major refinery projects, notably the Persian Gulf Star Refinery in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas which is touted as the biggest refinery project in the Middle East.

The legislation also stipulates that petrochemical production capacity should rise to 100 million tons per annum by the end of the sixth five-year plan. Petrochemical output capacity is around 65 million tons a year with actual output expected to reach 50 million tons in the present Iranian fiscal year that ends in March.

Construction of new power plants with an efficiency of 55-60% and "issuing license plates for vehicles that do not meet the Euro-4 emission standards" is stipulated in the new law to help reduce air pollution in the big cities.