Seyyed Mohsen Ghamsari told reporters on Sunday that exports of the heavy fuel oil had been on steady rise, with a peak hit in June; “the destination for much of this amount are Asian burgeoning economies such as China and Singapore, “ he added.
Currently, country’s refineries produce a daily volume of 100 million tons. Mazut was mainly excluded as fuel for heavy industries such as power plants for environmental considerations, with natural gas from South Pars, replacing it as less polluting alternative. Regulations rule that refineries should produce mazut in decreased amount up to 10 per cent, while still 27 per cent of the production basket is mazut.
In a related story, Director of National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company Nasser Sajjad had told the media that mazut and liquefied gas exports had spiked with lower demand inside the country; “since the new year (21 March 2016), countrywide consumption of mazut has rocked 45 per cent,” he was quoted as saying earlier in June. “Daily, heavy industries consume 13.5 million liters of mazut in the same period, which shows 11 million liters decrease from its high of 24.5 million liters per day last year,” he had added.
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