Iran’s major refinery nears operation

Iran expects to add 12 million liters per day of Euro-4 gasoline to its output when the first phase of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery comes on stream by March 2016, an official says.

The unit will also produce 4 million liters per day of Euro-4 diesel, Managing Director of Tamin Petroleum and Petrochemical Investment Company (TAPPICO) Mohammad Shiri said on Friday.

The Persian Gulf Star Refinery, being built in Bandar Abbas with $3.8 billion of investment, has a capacity to further process 120,000 barrels per day of crude oil in its first phase which has 85% of physical progress.

The second and third phases of the refinery will become operational four months after the initial operation.

Oil to the refinery will be fed from Assaluyeh via a 388-kilometer pipeline which was completed two weeks ago, Shiri said.

Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh has said Iran would need no more gasoline imports next year when the Persian Gulf Star Refinery became operational. The country will even turn to an exporter of gasoline and diesel once it comes on stream.

“With the completion of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery, 36 million liters (a day) will be added to the country’s gasoline and diesel production,” he said in February.

The plant is further expected to produce 360,000 barrels per day of gas condensates on top of jet fuel and other products.

Gasoline production turned into Iran’s strategic vulnerability after the West started imposing sanctions on the country in 2012.

The gasoline processing unit of Iran’s Abadan Refinery also nears startup which will add about 4 million liters a day