Following the opening of three refining projects at Tabriz Refinery in the presence of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday, Mr. Zangeneh said: “The daily production of petrol has increased from 52 million liters in 2012 to 107 ml in June 2019; a figure which will reach 110 ml/d by August.”

Speaking of the quality of the petrol, Zangeneh added that by August Iran’s euro petrol output would reach 74 ml/d from zero back in 2012. By euro, Mr. Zangeneh means fuel that meets euro-4 and euro-5 qualifications.

As he said, 94 ml/d of gasoil was produced in the country back in 2012 which had now reached 115 ml/d. Furthermore, this June, production of euro gasoil reached 50 ml/d from zero in 2012. The figure will cross 60 ml/d later in August, he said.

The official further said that the results of consuming quality fuels was visible in major cities. “Of course optimization of gas distribution network has contributed to improving the environment; industries that used polluting fuels are now being fueled by gas.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian Minister of Petroleum said a 1-billion-dollar project was to be inaugurated later in the central province of Isfahan which would add 17 ml/d of euro-4 and 5 gasoil to the country’s total output.

He said the refining industry in Iran was 80% run by the private sector.

Sanctions

Zangeneh said certain countries acted childishly and imposed sanctions immediately on Iran, adding, “We are not afraid of the sanctions.”

The projects included a project to convert all the petrol output of Tabriz Refinery in northwestern Iran to euro-5 standardization, production of euro-5 gasoil and production of base oil and lubricants.

Construction of a new petrol production unit with 4,000 barrels/day of capacity, conversion of the refinery’s catalytic unit to a light naphtha isomerization unit with 10,000 b/d of capacity, new gasoil refinery with a capacity of 30,000 barrels per day, as well as mixing and production of lubricating oils with an annual production capacity of 40,000 barrels, and production of base oil with an annual capacity of 90,000 tonnes are some of the sideline projects which were officially launched by President Rouhani on Thursday.

These projects bring Tabriz Refinery’s euro-5 petrol output to 3.5 ml/d, its euro-5 gasoil output to 2.5 ml/d, and also complete the supply chain and branding of the company as well as complete by 80% the base oil unit of the mixing and lubricant production unit.