Iran produces 1bn liters gasoline

Tue Dec 21, 2010

Two days after a hike in energy prices, Iran's oil minister says the country has produced more than one billion liters of gasoline to meet domestic demands.

Addressing Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday, Massoud Mir-Kazemi said despite a host of Western-imposed sanctions against Iran's energy sector, the country has defied predictions that it would face shortages.

“Today, the Oil Ministry's staff are implementing the targeted subsidiary plans … and should any problems arise, we will tackle them within the hour,” Mirkazemi was quoted by the Oil Ministry's website SHANA as saying.

“This proposal, which places the most pressure on the Oil Ministry, is being gradually implemented,” Mir-Kazemi said, referring to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's economic reform plans.

The “targeted” plans will eventually slash all government subsidiaries in place since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In a televised national speech on Saturday night, Ahmadinejad announced that the implementation of the plan would begin on Sunday.

He said the plans were guaranteed to lead to a better economy, since people would start saving on energy consumption, making it possible to export the extra reserves and pump the money back into the economy.

The Iranian chief executive also reasoned that higher prices would encourage people to use less fuel and cause less damage to the environment -- especially in pollution-hit Tehran.

Under the new rationing system, the price of gasoline will rise by fourfold from 1,000 rials (10 cents) per liter to 4,000 rials (40 cents) per liter as of Sunday.

Fuel beyond a person's quota -- which is 50 liters per month -- is now sold at 7,000 rials (70 cents) per liter.

Oil and Gas

Last week, the minister said Iran plans to boost its domestic gasoline production by 10 million liters per day.

Iran currently produces 45 million liters of gasoline per day and is the second-biggest crude oil producer in the Middle East.

Mirkazemi said the gasoline produced in Iranian petrochemical compounds enjoys a high octane rating of 98-100, outperforming the quality of the gasoline imported from other countries.

While restrictions on gasoline imports intensified, Iranian petrochemical units decreased imports of the product to almost zero level by the end of last summer.

Iran consumes 62 million liters of gasoline a day. Several petrochemical units have shifted operation to produce gasoline to help Iran meet the rest of its gasoline needs and end its reliance on imports.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/156488.html.