Azerbaijan , Baku, 24 May / Trend/
Iran will increase gasoline production capacities to 100 million liters per day, Fars News Agency reported quoting Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Refinery and Distributing Company Alireza Zeyghami as saying.
Iran gasoline production capacity is currently 54 million liters per day; meanwhile, it is estimated that the capacity increases to 100 million liters by the end of country's Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2010-2015), Zeyghami said.
The government participated in construction projects and gasoline production valued $47.7 billion, while $25.7 billion of the investment used in construction of 7 new refineries with 80 percent shares for private sectors, Zeyghami said.
The U.S. has banned foreign companies to supply gasoline to Iran.
The UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran's financial and military sectors under Western pressure last June.
Washington and its European allies have also imposed unilateral measures against Iran's energy sector.
Western powers accuse Tehran of following a military nuclear program, a charge repeatedly refuted by the Islamic Republic.
Iran 's gasoline consumption is around 58 million litters per day.
Earlier NIORDC Managing Director Farid Ameri said that Iran has saved $1.8 billion in fuel consumption since December 19, 2010 when the Iranian government lifted energy subsidies.
Iran increased its gasoline production after the United States and the European Union started approving their own unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, mostly targeting the country's energy and banking sectors, including a US boycott of gasoline supplies to Iran.