18 June 2011
Managing director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) on Friday outlined the outcome of talks with Armenia on exporting oil products and said a new center for storing oil products will be set up near Yerevan.
"At present, Armenia's market has an average demand for 12,000 barrels of oil products daily. It is predicted this figure will increase to 22,000 barrels per day," added Jalil Salari, who was speaking to Mehr News Agency.
Studies have been conducted in recent years by Iran and Russia's Gazprom Company on building an oil refinery in Armenia, he said.
"Since oil refineries with capacities of less than 100,000 barrels of oil are not economically feasible, the construction of this refining unit has been cancelled," he noted.
The official said at present Iran and Armenia are holding talks on building a pipeline to conduit oil products.
"In addition to building this pipeline, studies are also planned on building a new warehouse for distributing oil products near Yerevan.
Upon construction of this oil warehouse and its connection to the railroad network, not only will the liquid gas needed by Armenia be procured but it will also facilitate the export of oil products to Georgia and other countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus region," he noted.
Salari pointed to Iranian private sector's cooperation with Armenia on constructing a joint oil pipeline.
"Preliminary studies reveal that laying an eight-inch to 12-inch pipeline for exporting fuel is economically justified in the long run. Launching a new energy hub near Yerevan for export and supply of oil products also has economic advantages for Iran."
He recalled currently some Iranian oil products are exported to Armenia by tankers using the overland route.
"Armenia has 26 km of land borders with Iran. For a few years now swap of electricity and natural gas with this neighboring country has started. Once the final agreement is reached between the two countries, it will become possible to export oil products to Armenia, other regional countries and even the Mediterranean region in the long run," noted Salari.
Managing director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) on Friday outlined the outcome of talks with Armenia on exporting oil products and said a new center for storing oil products will be set up near Yerevan.
"At present, Armenia's market has an average demand for 12,000 barrels of oil products daily. It is predicted this figure will increase to 22,000 barrels per day," added Jalil Salari, who was speaking to Mehr News Agency.
Studies have been conducted in recent years by Iran and Russia's Gazprom Company on building an oil refinery in Armenia, he said.
"Since oil refineries with capacities of less than 100,000 barrels of oil are not economically feasible, the construction of this refining unit has been cancelled," he noted.
The official said at present Iran and Armenia are holding talks on building a pipeline to conduit oil products.
"In addition to building this pipeline, studies are also planned on building a new warehouse for distributing oil products near Yerevan.
Upon construction of this oil warehouse and its connection to the railroad network, not only will the liquid gas needed by Armenia be procured but it will also facilitate the export of oil products to Georgia and other countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus region," he noted.
Salari pointed to Iranian private sector's cooperation with Armenia on constructing a joint oil pipeline.
"Preliminary studies reveal that laying an eight-inch to 12-inch pipeline for exporting fuel is economically justified in the long run. Launching a new energy hub near Yerevan for export and supply of oil products also has economic advantages for Iran."
He recalled currently some Iranian oil products are exported to Armenia by tankers using the overland route.
"Armenia has 26 km of land borders with Iran. For a few years now swap of electricity and natural gas with this neighboring country has started. Once the final agreement is reached between the two countries, it will become possible to export oil products to Armenia, other regional countries and even the Mediterranean region in the long run," noted Salari.
© Iran Daily 2011
