Gasoline production in the Persian Gulf Star Refinery in the city of Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province, has exceeded 320 million liters since its official inauguration in April, chief executive officer of the Persian Gulf Star Oil Company said.
"The refinery's daily Euro-4 gasoline output stands at 6 million liters per day that increases to 10 ml/d after being mixed with light naphtha," Morteza Emami was also quoted as saying by ISNA on Sunday.
According to Emami, who has recently taken the position of CEO, close to 280 million liters of PGSR gasoline output has been distributed in mega cities.
Asked about other products, he said, "Although a large amount of the refinery's feedstock—gas condensates from South Pars phases—is converted into high-octane gasoline, the online units also produce a limited amount of petroleum products, namely diesel, jet fuel, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas."
Pointing to oil derivatives' output level, the official added that PGSR has produced 470 million liters of diesel in the period. Moreover, sweet and sour naphtha production has amounted to 124 million liters and 340 million liters respectively.
"The refinery's daily Euro-4 diesel output stands at 2 ml/d," he said, adding that should atmospheric distillation and isomerization units go on stream, diesel will be produced with a higher quality as the final product will have less sulfur.
Emami noted that the complex is provided with 77,000 barrels per day of gas condensates, yet plans are in place to increase the feedstock to 120,000 bpd day, which would lift the PGSR nominal gasoline capacity to 12 ml/d.
According to the official, South Pars phases produce close to 900,000 barrels of gas condensates per day, "thus there are no concerns over the steady supply of the much-needed feedstock".
Stressing that like other mega projects, PGSR is being developed in several phases, Emami said, "The newly-launched complex will be in full swing by mid September, being able to produce 12 million liters of Euro-4 gasoline regularly.
Elaborating on the long delay in the first phase operation, he said that as long as isomerization units do not come on stream, other phases cannot be completed.
"Not all shareholders have met their financial commitments," he added.
The refinery is owned by Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Investment Company (49%), Oil Industry Pension Fund Investment Company (33.1%) and National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (17.9%).
"The stability of processing and production is a major concern," Emami said, adding that phase one units will be operating at full capacity to produce petroleum byproducts by mid November.
On selling the refinery's LPG, the official noted that either the product can be sold based on buyback agreements, or a 7-kilometer pipeline, which will cost $200 million, can be laid to transfer it to southern exporting terminals.
The refinery’s products are expected to be sold domestically due to their high quality and other refineries’ output will be exported. PGSR is designed to produce 12 million liters per day of Euro-4 grade gasoline, 4.5 ml/d of Euro-4 diesel, 1 ml/d of kerosene and 300,000 liters per day of liquefied petroleum gas in the first development phase.
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