Official: Iran Plans to Inaugurate Four New Oil Refineries by Year end

A senior Iranian energy official announced that the country plans to complete construction of four new refineries by the end of the current Iranian year (ends March 20, 2014).

“Iran will complete projects related to four refineries by the end of the current year,” Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) Alireza Zeighami said on Thursday.

He noted that Iran is now self-sufficient in fuel production after its international suppliers stopped selling gasoline to Tehran under the US-led western pressures.

“Prior to the launch of the refinery projects, the production of base gasoline in the country stood at 44 million liters a day, which now stands at 61.4 million liters per day,” the Iranian official said.

Zeighami added said that a daily average of 1.85mln barrels of crude oil is currently being sent to refineries across Iran to be turned into various products.

After the UN Security Council ratified a sanctions resolution against Iran on June 9, 2010, the United States and the European Union imposed further unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, mostly targeting the country’s energy and banking sectors.

Tehran has always dismissed West’s pressures and stressed that sanctions and embargos merely consolidate Iranians’ national resolve to continue the path of progress.

The EU measure was ratified at a ministerial meeting in January 2012, but the 27-member bloc deferred its implementation until July 1.

Meantime, analysts believe that the EU started implementation of the sanctions against Iran at a time when it is experiencing its worst economic conditions.