Morteza Rahmanian made the statement on the sidelines of the Corrosion/2007; ICA International Congress (ICIC) -- the first ICA International Corrosion Congress and 10th National Corrosion Congress at the Olympic Hotel, western Tehran.

“Although an accurate figure is not available, the studies show that Iran’s oil industry is spending more than one million dollars daily to repair or replace the corroded equipment,” he told PIN.

Rahmanian said, “According to the estimate, corrosion costs Iran 32 trillion rials (3.4 billion dollars) per year – three to five percent of gross domestic product (GDP).”

The corrosion management in the oil industry would help the country cut the related cost by five percent by the end of the Fourth Five-Year Socioeconomic Development Plan (2005-2010), he assured.

Rahmanian added the refining of a barrel of crude oil ranged from 50 to 58 cents while the statistical figures showed that a domestic refinery was spending 750 thousand dollars a day for damages caused by corrosion during the crude oil refining process.

The ICA chief said the Petroleum Ministry in collaboration with the association would hold the first Corrosion Management Conference next winter.

The secretary of congress told reporters said the meet aimed at discuss corrosion and related achievements and to establish ties between domestic and foreign corrosion experts.

Bijan Kermani added giant industrial companies from 16 states had attended the congress.

Iranian Corrosion Association was founded in 1992 and had so far hosted nine national congresses.

The ICIC will be followed by a series of practical workshops on May 16 and 17.