Iran’s largest petrol unit launched

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has inaugurated the country’s biggest gasoline production unit with an estimated output of 6 million liters of gasoline per day in southwest Iran.

President Ahmadinejad attended the inauguration ceremony of the unit in the city of Abadan, situated 1046 kilometers (649 miles) southwest of the Iranian capital of Tehran, on Tuesday.

During the presidential tour, however, a gas leakage caused a major explosion in one of the refinery units, killing two workers and injuring scores of others. The fire was quickly brought under control by fire fighters stationed at the refinery.

The unit is expected to produce 94 octane gasoline, the report added.

The unit’s production capacity will increase by some two million liters once the second phase of Abadan refinery comes on stream.

According to a recent report published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Iran’s gasoline production will have raised to 72 million liters per day by 2012.

The report pointed to the upcoming increase in gasoline production as work on upgrading several refiners is nearing completion.

The report added that Iran gasoline production will yield a surplus of about 20 million liters per day for export once the country reaches production capacity of 42 million liters per day in 2012.