Jalil Salari, who made the remarks in a ceremony to unveil the basic outline of a plan for improving quality of furnace oil and producing needle coke, added, “Enhancement of furnace oil is among the main challenges facing refining industries. To acquire the knowledge, we decided to indigenize the expertise of coke production with support of the Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI), and we have now possessed the technical know-how in collaboration with Shazand oil refinery and RIPI and the value chain of this sector was completed.”

He noted Iran’s oil is getting heavier, making it strictly necessary to implement plans for upgrading quality in refineries.

The deputy oil minister added Iran is currently producing sponge and needle coke.