Tehran Oil Refinery has signed a memorandum of understanding with two Japanese companies, JGC Corporation and Marubeni Corporation, on enhancing gasoline quality and quantity as well as reducing mazut output, the refinery’s managing director said.
“The refinery’s gasoline production is planned to rise by 25% in the first phase of the project and by 100% in the second,” Lotfollah Hangi was also quoted as saying by IRNA late Saturday.
Hangi noted that to eliminate benzene from gasoline and upgrade its quality to comply with Euro-5 emission standards, new quality enhancement units are to be constructed in the refinery.
He added that the units include a hydrogen purification unit with a capacity of 16,000 barrels per day, a continuous catalytic regeneration unit with a capacity of 14,000 bpd and a benzene reduction unit that can process 24,000 bpd.
Tehran Oil Refinery is located 15 kilometers south of the capital and includes two sections (southern and northern). Its nominal crude refining capacity is over 230,000 barrels a day.
"The gasoline segment of the project, which needs an investment of $400 million, will be started in the middle of the current fiscal year (started March 21) and is planned to be completed in three years," the official said.
An isomerization unit came on stream about six years ago to help boost the Tehran refinery’s gasoline quality.
--- Reducing Mazut Output
Referring to the second phase of the project, which is about curbing mazut production, Hangi said the refinery is currently producing about 55,000 bpd of mazut, which is over 20% of its total output.
The output will be reduced to 12,000 bpd (or 5% of total production) for converting it into Euro-5 commodities.
“The phase will start at the beginning of the next fiscal (March 21, 2019) and is planned to come on stream within four years at a cost of $2.8 billion,” he said.
Iran is ranked ninth, 11th and 13th in terms of gasoline, oil refining and diesel production capacity, yet when it comes to producing mazut, a low value and low quality fuel that emits large quantities of pollutants into the air, it ranks first in the world.
According to the head of Tehran Oil Refinery, all products will comply with Euro-5 standards when the whole project is complete.
--- Indigenization
Hangi said the refinery signed more than 800 contracts with domestic industries, worth over $13 million, adding that for instance, it sealed a deal with Exir Novin Farayand Asia Company to buy Iranian catalysts.
A few months ago, a new unit became operational in the refinery, which uses Iranian catalysts to produce gasoline with an octane rate of over 88.
“If Iranian companies are able to produce quality products needed by refining firms, we will never sign contracts with foreign enterprises [that supply the same products],” he added.
On the indigenization in refining companies, Hangi stressed that Iranian refining companies currently procure over 80% of their required equipment from domestic suppliers.
