Close to 10,000 tons of diesel were exported to Iraq and Afghanistan from Sari oil depot in Mazandaran Province in 2017, the head of National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company in Sari said.
"Oil derivative exporting firms have obtained permits from NIOPDC to transport 8,000 tons of diesel from Sari storage facilities to Afghanistan between June 15 and June 27," Hossein-Ali Talebi was also quoted as saying by Shana, the National Iranian Oil Company's news agency.
According to the official, the company has provided oil trucks with facilities, namely advanced weighing scales and systems, and they can be loaded from two separate depots in the shortest possible time.
"Plans are in place to establish more loading platforms in the area," Talebi said, adding that the Sari depot is equipped with different storage facilities to keep a wide range of oil byproducts, but due to the proximity of the depot to eastern borders, expanding the capacity can create more jobs in the region.
Highlighting NIOPDC's policy to reduce export costs, he said that with regard to the pipelines and other infrastructure such as oil storage facilitates, the closer the storage units to border areas, the lesser will be the expense for exports, which in turn will help curb fuel smuggling.
"Iran has become an exporter of oil byproducts after years of import," he added.
According to Alireza Rajabpour, deputy for exports and imports at NIOPDC, more than 1.3 million tons of petroleum products have been exported to neighboring states through land borders over the last four years.
"Oil derivates like diesel, kerosene, jet fuel and liquefied natural gas, including LNG and LPG, have been transferred to Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Armenia via land borders by tanker trucks," he said.
Pointing to the value of oil byproducts' exports in the fiscal 2015-16, Rajabpour said, "Close to $9.1 million worth of fuels were exported in the period through land borders."
According to the official, NIOPDC has sold 10.3 million tons of mazut and diesel via bunkering facilities in the Persian Gulf since 2013. Asked about swapping oil derivatives from 2013 to 2015, Rajabpour said Iran took delivery of 420,000 tons of liquefied natural gas, mazut and diesel at the northern oil terminals in Neka and Anzali, which were imported from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Russia and the equivalent was exported from southern terminals.
