The budget bill for the present Iranian year (ending March 20, 2017) calls for exporting 2.25 million barrels of oil and gas condensates per day, a target that will not be accomplished unless oil output capacity exceeds 4 million bpd.
Speaking on the sidelines of a convention on "Sharing Responsibilities to Boost National Production", Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said, “Raising oil exports can definitely boost gross domestic product,” ISNA reported on Wednesday.
Pointing to the fact that Iran’s export of crude oil and gas condensates is now over 2 million bpd, the minister said notwithstanding disagreements over Iran’s new petroleum contracts—aka IPC—lucrative contracts are and should be signed by the yearend.
On delivering natural gas to power plants, Zanganeh said, "Consumption of liquefied fuel in power plants has witnessed a 30% decline in a two-year period, decreasing from 47% in 2013 to 17% in 2015. Moreover, plans have been made to reduce it further to less than 10% by the end of 2016."
"Power plants, which still rely on mazut, should not be closed down as a part of their fuel must be provided by the liquefied fuel," he said.
Zanganeh stressed that South Pars development projects will be thoroughly implemented by 2018.
Five phases have already gone on stream and phases 17 and 18 will be completed by the yearend, while phases 19, 20 and 21 will be developed in the near future.
According to the minister, $16.515 million were invested for natural gas network expansion in rural areas last year.
Interestingly, the national gas supply grid covers more than 78% of the country, which will be expanded by 90% by the yearend.
--- Anti-Smuggling Plans
"Executive bodies need to collaborate to put an end to mazut and diesel smuggling forever. I recommend using Global Positioning System instead of bill of loading, which unfortunately public transportation vehicles are not equipped with," he said.
Stressing that establishing gas stations requires substantial investment, Zanganeh said, "Embarking on building single-pump gas stations can help the Oil Ministry get in touch with only a few big gas station agencies instead of having to deal with thousands of gas station owners individually.
"Many gas station owners are imprisoned every year not only due to profiteering and not paying their debts but also for not selling enough of the strategic commodity to customers by mixing it with other additives or even diesel," he said.
According to the oil minister, the government has been planning for more than a year to install single-pump stations and reached an agreement with Tehran Municipality to establish 200 such stations in the capital.
Asked about petrochemical projects, Zanganeh noted that about 11 petrochemical projects with high value added will become operational in the current year.
Petrochemical projects worth over $5 billion are said to include the complexes of Mahabad, Marvdasht, Kavian 2, Khorramabad, Karoun 2, Sanandaj, Kaveh and Asalouyeh.
“In the current Iranian year, some of the refinery plans will go on stream, the most important of which is the Persian Gulf Star Refinery [in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas],” he said.
