The Iranian Oil Pipeline and Telecommunication Company's Tehran office annually supplies over 45 billion liters of crude and petroleum products to the northern provinces, the managing director of the company said.
“The company delivered 4 billion liters of oil and byproducts including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and kerosene, to the northern regions between August 23 and September 23,” Qasem Arabyar Mohammadi was quoted as saying by Shana on Saturday.
The office covers northern provinces, namely Gilan, Mazandaran, North Khorasan, South Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi, Semnan, Golestan, Qazvin and Zanjan.
IOPTC is a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company.
There has been no serious incident in IOPTC’s pipelines in the north since March," he said, adding that most pipelines are operated and monitored 24 hours a day, every day of the year
Giving a breakdown of supplies to the provinces, Mohammadi said more than 62 million liters of regular diesel, Euro-4 diesel, gasoline, Euro-4 gasoline, kerosene and jet fuel is supplied to the provinces on a daily basis.
Moreover, the dispatching center sold to the northern destinations 52 million liters of crude oil per day.
“There has been no serious incident in IOPTC’s pipelines in the north since March," he said, adding that most pipelines are operated and monitored 24 hours a day, every day of the year. They are capable of moving the oil at speeds of 5.3 kilometers per hour. Transport speed depends upon the diameter of the pipe, the pressure under which the oil is being transported, the topography of the terrain and viscosity of the oil.
The pipeline is more than 1,000 kilometers long and it takes about 12 days for the oil products to reach the farthest northern destinations.
The official said the company adopts measures such as intelligent pigging of pipelines, controlling the corrosion of metals by using cathodic protection technique and regular inspections of installations to reduce the likelihood of accidents and enhance safety.
Referring to the installations in Tehran, he said the main pipelines include 14-inch Ray-Tabriz, 18" Ray-Qazvin- Rasht, 22" Ray–Shahroud and 16" Ray-Sari.
The company is also responsible for feeding power plants with diesel in Tehran, Alborz and Gilan provinces at times when they have a shortage of gas that is the main feedstock.
He noted that with the rise in gas production in South Pars Gas Field and increase in the supply of gas to industries and power plants, the volume of diesel and mazut supply has declined notably.
According to Mohammadi, two oil storage facilities, each with a capacity of 40 million liters, will come on stream soon and help the company further expand its activities.
Repair and renovation of pipelines is carried out on a regular basis for sustainable and safe delivery of crude oil and byproducts, he was quoted as saying.
