The third
phase of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery came online Monday, marking
self-sufficiency in gasoline with a total production of more than 100 million
liters per day.
“Fortunately,
we do not need to import gasoline anymore. We have reached self-sufficiency. We
can export our produced gasoline but have no export plans,” Zangeneh said after
the inauguration in Bandar Abbas.
Iran has
imported no gasoline since September and sees no need to do so, because the
country is now virtually an exporter of the strategic fuel.
“However, we
intentionally do not export gasoline because we want to raise the country's
gasoline stocks,” Zangeneh said.
Despite
being a major oil producer for decades, Iran struggled to meet its domestic
fuel needs for years because of a lack of refining capacity which made the
country prone to foreign sanctions.
However,
when US President Donald Trump decided in May to reimpose sanctions on the
Islamic Republic, he ruffled no feathers among fuel purveyors in Iran.
Iran
produced less than 50 million liters per day of gasoline before the former
Obama administration imposed sanctions on Tehran in 2011 when consumption stood
at about 60 million liters a day. That meant the country had to purchase around
10 million liters per day from international vendors.
Last summer
when overall gasoline consumption stood at 91 million liters, Iran's production
capacity had already surpassed 93 million liters, according to figures provided
by Ministry of Petroleum.
The launch
of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery’s third phase on Tuesday raised the overall
gasoline production capacity to 105 million liters a day.
“This is a
67% increase from last Aban (October 2017)” when Iran produced 63 million
liters a day of gasoline, Deputy Minister of Petroleum Alireza Sadeqabadi has
said.
According to
Sadeqabadi, Iran will have produced 20 million liters of surplus gasoline in
the second six months of the Persian year which ends on March 21, PressTV
wrote.
The Persian
Gulf Star Refinery is part of the giant South Pars production chain, with a
capacity to take in 400,000 barrels per day of gas as feedstock. Zangeneh said
the refinery accounts for 20 percent of Iran's 2.1 million barrels of daily
refining capacity.
Its
construction with 3.5 billion euros ($4.7 billion) of investment began in 2006
and the first phase came into operation in April 2017 and the second phase last
June. Zangeneh said the construction of the fourth phase will begin “in the
near future”.
Head of
Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, an Iranian engineering firm and one
of the main contractors involved in the refinery’s construction, said the plan
is to build “a 100 percent Iranian refinery” at phase four.
“In the
previous phases of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery, we imported 30 percent of
the equipment, including hydrogen compressors,” Saeed Mohammad said.
“The
construction of these compressors, which require a very sophisticated
technology, has been delegated to the IRGC Aerospace Organization for reverse
engineering,” he added.
His company
is affiliated to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). Mohammad said the
entry of Khatam al-Anbia Construction Headquarters into the project was to fill
the void from the withdrawal of foreign companies after Iran came under
sanctions.
Each of the
three phases of the refinery are designed to also produce 4.5 million
liters/day of Euro-IV diesel, one million litters/day of kerosene and 300,000
liters a day of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Zangeneh
said Iran is currently producing 76 million liters/day of Euro-IV and Euro-V
gasoline which is close to consumption figures.
This
capacity was zilch six years ago when Iran had to produce gasoline at
petrochemical units because of Western sanctions, leaving many cities and towns
blanketed with a haze of choking smoke.
President
Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday praised the inauguration, saying in a televised
speech that it comes despite America's "imposing the harshest
sanctions" on Iran.
Recently,
President Hassan Rouhani in inauguration ceremony of the third phase of the
Persian Gulf Star Refinery said Iran has started to tread the path of
self-sufficiency and no one can stop the move.
Since 2016
in less than two years, the first, second and third phases of the Persian Gulf
Star Refinery were launched, said President Rouhani.
This means
Iran is rushing toward self-sufficiency, he added.
He said that
it is far from fairness, patriotism, love to the Revolution and ethics to
ignore such big achievements.
President
Rouhani added, 'There are some problems and shortcomings, but dealing with the
economic war and sanctions, we faced some issues because the US and its
mercenaries are trying to increase pressure on Iran every day.'
'When the
enemy throws a stone, they may break a piece of glass, but we shouldn’t be
disconsolate for that.'
Referring to
the Iraqi invasion of Iran during the rule of Saddam, he said, 'We resisted
with unity during the war; we should do the same thing and not get
disappointed.'
'In the
1985, Iran's oil sales stopped totally, but through planning and strong will we
started selling it again.'
Rouhani said
Iran was the victorious side of the war though it had a lot of problems and the
whole world helped Iraq.
But today
Iran is in an economic war, he said, stressing 'We need to back each other'.
'If we fail
to stand by each other,' President Rouhani said, 'we cannot resist against the
plots of the enemy.'
He also said
that economic war is harder than the military one.
'In the
military war everything is clear, but that’s not the case in the economic war.'
Iranian
president went on to refer to efforts by US President Donald Trump's
administration to ally with Washington all the other 14 members of the United
Nations Security Council to issue a resolution against Iran.
'But at the
end, all the 14 other UNSC members spoke against the United States and Trump
who was also present at the UNSC session was isolated, Rouhani said.
He also
said, “Americans claim that their sanctions are not targeting the Iranian
people, but they are working towards undermining the people's health and
livelihood.'
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