Bandar Abbas Refinery in the southern Hormozgan Province is making concerted efforts to enhance the quality of its gasoline and diesel output to comply with Euro-4 emission standards by October, the refinery’s managing director said on Friday.
“Iranian engineers are implementing the project, which I hope will be completed between Sept. 23 and Oct. 22,” Hashem Namvar was also quoted as saying by ISNA.
Namvar added that the refinery officials are holding negotiations with Japan’s Chiyoda Corporation on curbing mazut output, a heavy polluting fuel that accounts for most of Bandar Abbas Refinery’s production.
“We aim to reduce the refinery’s mazut production to less than 10%, which itself will be enhanced to lighter products with more value added,” he said.
Bandar Abbas Refinery’s daily capacity is 350,000 barrels of oil, which includes 300,000 barrels of heavy crude, 35,000 barrels of gas condensates from Sarkhoun Gas Field and 20,000 barrels of light oil from Hengam Oilfield.
The refinery accounts for 22% of the country’s total crude refining capacity, which stands at 1.6 million barrels per day but “can be expanded to 1.8 million depending on demand”, according to Abbas Kazemi, the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company's former managing director.
The official noted that the plan’s feasibility studies have been carried out, which showed the project is technically and economically justifiable.
Namvar stressed that the project is currently at the stage of implementing basic engineering studies by unnamed foreign companies.
“Plans call for carrying out engineering studies by May 2019, after which the project will enter the operational phase,” he said.
About the finance estimated for the project, Namvar underscored that the investment will be determined in the basic engineering studies, which will probably be around $3-4 billion.
Iran is ranked ninth, 11th and 13th in terms of gasoline, oil refining and diesel production capacity, yet when it comes to producing mazut, a low value and low quality fuel that emits large quantities of pollutants into the air, it ranks first in the world.
Similar plans are also underway in other Iranian refineries such as Tabriz and Abadan refineries.
