Oil Minister Downplays Impacts of Sanctions on Iran’s Energy Sector

Tougher sanctions and restrictions imposed by the West against Iran’s energy sector have failed to stop the country’s oil industry from running, Iran’s Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi stressed.

“Foreign countries imagined that Iran would not survive several months under such conditions, but the endeavors of oil industry staff showed that the problems would be set aside while oil industry projects are in good conditions,” Qassemi said on Tuesday.

As regards gasoline production, the Iranian minister said that the country will start exporting gasoline by the end of the next Iranian year (ends on March 20, 2014).

Iran’s premium gasoline output is expected to increase by 12 million liters per day with the launch of the first phase of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery within months.

Under the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) plans, the country’s processing capacity will rise to 526 million liters per day while storage capacity will hit 17 billion liters in 2025.

Boosting gasoline exports to 96.6 million liters, jet fuel to 59.7 million liters and gasoil to 50.5 million liters per day are among the other targets of NIORDC for the Year 2025.

Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.