Shazand Refinery in the central city of Arak, Markazi Province, has produced 1.2 billion liters of Euro-4 and premium gasoline in the current fiscal year (started March 21), the refinery’s managing director said.
“Shazand Refinery meets 23% of the country’s total gasoline demand, which is mostly consumed in Tehran, Alborz and Markazi provinces,” Alireza Amin was also quoted as saying by IRNA on Saturday.
According to Amin, the refinery has also produced 264 million liters of liquefied gas, 26 million liters of propylene, 808 million liters of diesel, 18 million liters of light naphtha, 82 million liters of kerosene and 70 million liters of jet fuel in less than four months.
The official added that the processing plant’s total output of mazut and sulfur in the same period stood at 322 million liters and 30,000 tons respectively.
Established about two and a half decades ago, Shazand Refinery’s nominal processing capacity has risen to 171,000 barrels per day from the initial goal of 150,000 bpd.
“Had the refinery not undergone a one-month overhaul in May, the total production would have been 20% higher,” Amin said, adding that the second phase of the overhaul is planned for October.
He noted that in the first phase, machinery and processing facilities of the refinery’s different units, including distillation, continuous catalytic regeneration, gas liquefaction, visbreaker and kerosene purification, were successfully inspected.
A visbreaker is a processing unit in an oil refinery whose purpose is to reduce the quantity of residual oil produced in the distillation of crude oil and to increase the yield of more valuable middle distillates (heating oil and diesel) by the refinery.
“The refinery’s gasoline output level ranged between 8-12 million liters per day till a month ago. However, the overhaul of some units has put the refinery on full swing,” he added.
If the prospective renovation plans are implemented, the refinery’s output can exceed 20 million liters per day.
The National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company has reduced gasoline imports from 9 million liters per day to 5.7 million liters per day in the second quarter of the current fiscal year (started June 22), mostly because of the launch of the second phase of Persian Gulf Star Refinery in Hormozgan Province.
