Abbas Kazemi told reporters on Monday that Bandar Abbas and Isfahan gasoline production lines would contribute to this rise; “Oil Ministry has gradually cut gasoline imports; we had planned to import 10 million liters of gasoline; however, we managed to curb imports to 4.5 million liters through domestic consumption management and raising production at home,” he told reporters.
Kazemi, who is also Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC), pointed to ministry’s new gasoline producing projects in Bandar Abbas and Isfahan, and the first phase of Persian Gulf Star refineries, which he believed would go operative in current Iranian year, which would add an overall of 3 million liters to total national gasoline production; “we predict to curb imports fully by these projects entering operation,” he added.
Kazemi announced plans to raise gasoline exports to Kurdistan Autonomous Region, Iraq, and Afghanistan; “with gas production on rise, delivery of fluid fuels to power plants and industries has declined dramatically; we also plan to decrease fuel oil in domestic refineries; the global supply and demand trends show a declining demand for fuel oil, and in line with this decline, we will decrease the supply to the market of fuel oil,” he detailed.
“New projects along with optimization of operating refineries would help replace fuel oil with gas oil; along with raising gas oil, fuel oil, kerosene, and liquefied gas exports, Persian Gulf Star refinery complex will work to become a major exporter of oil products,” told Kazemi, “we have also plans to connect national electricity grid to national oil pipeline; last year (ending in March 21 2015), we connected 7 new power plants to oil pipelines, and we started operation of the plane fuel delivery to Imam Khomeini International Airport from Tehran refinery,” he concluded.