Bandar Abbas Refinery to Produce Euro-4 Gasoline

Bandar Abbas Refinery in the southern Hormozgan Province will begin production of 4 million liters per day of gasoline compliant with Euro-4 standards in the third quarter of 2017, the managing director of National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company (NIOECC) said.

Hamid Sharif-Razi said the construction of the refinery's storage facilities are expected to be completed by the end the current fiscal year in March, Mehr News Agency reported on Monday.

Asked about naphtha production, Sharif-Razi said that the refinery's naphtha processing unit will come on stream next month.

Commenting on the capacity of the gasoline production unit, the official added, "As soon as the new  unit is operational, Iran's Euro-4 gasoline production capacity will increase by 4 million liters per day, reaching 36 million liters."

Data show that an average of 70 million liters of gasoline is consumed daily in the country, around 8 million liters of which are imported. According to Sharif-Razi, the development project is also aimed at producing eight million liters of Euro-4 compliant diesel.

"Almost $700 million has been invested to optimize the Bandar Abbas refinery and expand its output capacity," the official said.

Pointing to the project's environmental objectives, Sharif-Razi added that the new gasoline production unit will significantly reduce the output of benzene and sulfur which are regarded as harmful chemicals.

The move is in line with efforts to cap high amounts of detrimental chemicals that are produced during the production of gasoline in domestic refineries.

Sharif-Razi noted that researchers in the country had succeeded in manufacturing 25 catalysts, including a catalyst used in producing Euro-4 gasoline. Bandar Abbas Oil Refinery produces oil byproducts such as unleaded gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, diesel, bitumen and sulfur.

Iran was set to become self-reliant in gasoline production and start exports by the summer, but things have not gone according to plan due largely to delays in the construction of new refineries. 

However government officials say that the country will halt gasoline imports in the next fiscal and then embark on gasoline exports upon the imminent launch of several major refinery projects.