Iran's gasoline production will reach 105 million liters per day by the fiscal yearend (March 2019) upon the completion of its biggest refinery in the southern city of Bandar Abbas, a deputy oil minister said.
Alireza Sadeqabadi, chief executive officer of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, added that while its first phase is active, the Persian Gulf Star Refinery's second phase has been launched partially and it will add 12 ml/d to the domestic production by the end of the month, ISNA reported.
The country currently produces over 70 million liters of gasoline per day.
PGSR is being developed in three phases with a combined processing capacity of 360,000 barrels per day of condensate, a type of ultra light crude extracted from the giant South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf.
According to the official, once fully operational, the refinery will produce 36 million liters of high-octane gasoline as part of efforts to wean Iran away from the import of the fuel.
The first phase of the refinery is in full swing and its Euro-4 and -5 gasoline is being distributed in mega cities, helping reduce high gasoline imports in recent months.
"The second phase partially became operational by the end of the last fiscal and is planned for official inauguration by President Hassan Rouhani this month," Sadeqabadi said.
"The third phase will go on stream by the end of the year," he added.
Reducing Imports
Commenting on lower gasoline imports despite the 11.3% rise in consumption during the first month of the current fiscal year, the NIORDC chief said PGSR has helped reduce dependence on imports.
"The country needed 80 ml/d of gasoline on average in 2017, of which 15 to 20 million liters had to be imported. However, the refineries' implementation has so far reduced imports to 9 ml/d," he said.
"As more units in PGSR go on stream, a lesser amount of fuel will be imported."
According to Mohammad Reza Mousavikhah, the head of National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, "were it not for the development of Persian Gulf Star Refinery, the country would have to import 28 million liters of the strategic fuel daily".
Mousavikhah said the decline in imports will continue, as it will be halved in the summer (June 22-Sept. 22).
"It is projected that the country will need to import 9 million liters of gasoline per day in the first quarter, which will halve in the second quarter," he said.
Once fully developed, the refinery will further cut gasoline imports and make way for increasing its export.
