Tehran - Iran will be able to export 10 million liters of naphtha per day in as of next Iranian year (to start March 20), Deputy Oil Minister Ali-Reza Zeighami said here Monday.
The official added that with gasoline production projects becoming operational by the end of the next year, production capacity will increase to 70 million liters per day thus enabling the export 10 million liters of naphtha per day, in addition to gasoline export.
He underlined that naphtha is a valuable by-product and the basic fuel for gasoline production which is turned into engine gasoline after undergoing simple processes.
Zeighami noted that in the current year, gasoline exports were limited due to domestic need. While with the implementation of huge gasoline production projects and launching refineries, naphtha and gasoline exports will grow, he contended.
In the current year, some one million tons of light and heavy naphtha were exported, indicating a 2.5 fold increase compared to the figure for the same period last year, the official said.
Gas oil exports also witnessed a fourfold rise in the same period of the past year, Zeighami said.
Currently, in an effort to achieve self-sufficiency in gasoline production, a balance has almost been struck between gasoline production and consumption.
With the partial implementation of the development projects in the refineries, daily gasoline production has increased from 43 million liters per day to 58 million liters per day, he said.
The deputy oil minister added that the figure is expected to reach 80 million liters per day by the end of the current year.
Currently, Iran produces some 55 million liters of gasoline per day, while daily consumption stands at 60 million liters.
Petrochemical production capacity and the number of Iranian petrochemical complexes have witnessed remarkable growth in the last three decades since the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Public Relations Department of National Petrochemical Company (NPC) announced that production capacity has increased 19 folds to reach 54.5 million tons compared to the figure for the pre-Islamic Revolution era.
It added that nominal petrochemical production capacity reached 51 million tons by the end of the Fourth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2005-10) from three million tons at the beginning of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
© IRNA 2012
