Export of petroleum products including mazut, diesel and gasoline to Afghanistan is continuing as planned, spokesman of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company said Wednesday.
There have been reports during the past few days that Afghanistan has banned importing oil derivatives from Iran due to substandard quality.
"The ban on hydrocarbon imports from Iran does not include NIOPDC products," Jaffar Pourfarjoudi was quoted as saying by ILNA.
Denying reports by some local news outlets about selling inferior quality fuel to the neighboring country, the official said some private companies converted petroleum products to low quality gasoline and sold it to filling stations over the border because of which they have currently been banned from carrying any kind of hydrocarbon products to Afghanistan. He did not provide any details.
"The abuse has nothing to do with NIOPDC," he said.
According to the spokesman, products exported to Afghanistan have the same quality as those sold in Iran. The company is exporting hydrocarbons on a regular basis and the ban includes some private distributors.
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, are exported to Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Armenia via land borders," he said.
Pointing to the value of exports in 2016, Rajabpour said, "Close to $9.1 million worth of fuel was exported via land borders."
NIOPDC 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 LNG, mazut and diesel at the northern oil terminals in Neka and Anzali. The imports were from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Russia and the equivalent was exported from Iran’s southern terminals.
Highlighting NIOPDC's policy to reduce transport costs, he said with regard to pipelines and other infrastructure, such as oil storage facilitates, the closer the storage sites to border areas, lesser the expenses.
In 2016 Iran become an exporter of oil byproducts after long years of import, he said.
