The country will no longer need to import gasoline upon completion of the Persian Gulf Star (Setareye Khalij Fars) Refinery, First Vice-President Es'haq Jahangiri said during his visit to the refinery in the southern Hormozgan Province.
The refinery is of great importance for the country as "we try to cut reliance on gasoline imports," Jahangiri stated. A wide range of products, including quality gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel are to be supplied by Persian Gulf Star refinery, the official was quoted by Shana news agency as saying.
According to official estimates, Iran will need to import 5-6 million liters of gasoline per day until the new refinery comes on stream. The country was set to become self-reliant in gasoline production and start exports by the summer, but things have not gone according to plan due to a delay in construction of several refineries.
Development of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery in the port city of Bandar Abbas is 75 percent complete, but its target to produce 36 million barrels of Euro-4 gasoline per day is unlikely to be achieved by next year (starting March 22).
"A lack of financing remains the major obstacle on the way of completing this project," said the oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh who accompanied Jahangiri during his one-day visit to Bandar Abbas.
A solution to the project's operational impediments would be allocation of 650 million euros ($731.7 million) by the National Development Fund of Iran, Zanganeh added.
"The financing problems should be identified and resolved," Jahangiri said, pledging to address the issue promptly.
The refinery is expected to produce 360,000 barrels of gas condensate, 27 million liters (ml) of regular gasoline, 9 ml of super gasoline, 14 ml of diesel, and 370,000 liters of jet fuel per day. Daily production of 3.8 ml of liquefied gas, 130,000 tons of sulfur, and 468 tons of hydrogen is also among the refinery's objectives.
Construction of a 388 kilometer pipeline to transfer gas condensate from the southern city of Assalouyeh, in Bushehr Province, to the Persian Gulf Star Refinery is completed.
Located on the coasts of the Persian Gulf, some 270 km southeast of the provincial capital of Bushehr, Assalouyeh is the closest land point to the largest natural gas field in the world, the South Pars.
