Tabriz Oil Refinery in East Azarbaijan Province produces 5.3 million liters of gasoline per day, of which 50% meet Euro-4 standards, managing director of the refinery said. "The refinery's total output amounts to 5.5 million tons per year, 90% of which are converted to a wide range of fuels, namely gasoline, diesel, kerosene and mazut," Gholamreza Baqeri was also quoted as saying by the refinery's news portal on Sunday.
According to the official, the complex started to produce Euro-4 gasoline in July, currently at 2.6 million liters per day, and plans are in place to increase the output by the end of the current fiscal in March 2019.
Giving a breakdown, he added that the plant's diesel, kerosene and mazut production stands at 6, 1 and 4 million liters per day respectively.
Euro-5 Diesel
Baqeri noted that a new unit for removing sulfur from diesel has been launched recently in the refinery with the help of local experts.
The official further said the high-tech unit was completed at a cost of €50 million under the license of France's Axens, an international provider of advanced technologies, catalysts and services to petrochemical industries.
"The complex is producing close to 3 million liters of Euro-5 diesel, which will double by March 2019. Most development initiatives in the complex are aimed at boosting the quality of products and meeting zero-emission environmental standards," he said.
Baqeri announced that talks are underway with Chinese, Russian and European investors to undertake a venture worth €1.5 billion to upgrade the refinery's commodities to Euro-5 standards. According to the official, as soon as negotiations come to fruition, a preliminary tender to purchase much-needed licenses will be held.
"Iranian companies will hold a 51% stake in the project, 40% of the equipment will be imported and the rest should be supplied by domestic manufacturers," he said.
"Liquefied petroleum gas accounts for 3% or 300,000 liters of the refinery's total daily production."
On the effect of the US sanctions engineered to hit the country's oil sector, he stressed that such restrictions may slow down the development process, yet they will never come to a halt.
Tail Gas Agreement
Tabriz Oil Refining Company signed a $12 million agreement on Saturday with a consortium formed by an unnamed German firm and a domestic company on financing and implementing a tail gas treatment project to increase the rate of sulfur recovery.
According to Baqeri, managing director of the refinery, Kimia Petrogas Ilia Company and its German partner aim to carry out the venture in 24 months. Tail gas treatment entails converting the small amount of sulfur compounds, which were not converted in the sulfur recovery unit, into hydrogen sulfide and recycle it back to SRU for additional processing.
“The optimization plan will help the refinery meet its target of reducing hazardous air pollutants,” he said.
Baqeri added that the tail gas treatment unit’s capacity will be proportional to the refinery’s sulfur unit capacity that stands at 110 tons per day.
