Tehran, Iran, May 27
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iran's former oil minister, Masoud Mirkazemi still believes that the gasoline produced in petrochemical complexes is not polluting.
Mirkazemi, who is now a member of parliament, said the issue was discussed in detail at a meeting of the parliament's Energy Commission, Iran's Fars News Agency reported on May 26.
"Iran daily produces 17 million liters of gasoline conforming to Euro-4 standard. The rest of the country's gasoline output, no matter produced in the petrochemical complexes or old oil refineries, are the same," he said.
"If we consider the gasoline produced in petrochemical complexes as polluting, then the gasoline produced in the old oil refineries should be considered polluting as well," Mirkazemi noted.
According to the oil ministry, Iran's petrochemical complexes will not produce gasoline and octane booster anymore.
The decision was made because the gasoline produced in petrochemical complexes has been reported as polluting.
Head of Iran's Department of Environment, Massoumeh Ebtekar, said on February 9 that the gasoline produced in petrochemical complexes is highly polluting.
Iranian petrochemical complexes started producing gasoline once the United States put gasoline trades with Iran under sanction.
Managing director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC), Abbas Kazemi, said on April 13 that Iran plans to daily import 10 million liters of gasoline to compensate for stopping production of gasoline in petrochemical complexes.
"Iranian government has ordered the petrochemical complexes to stop producing gasoline," he said, adding that the country's gasoline imports were around 3.5 million liters per day in the previous calendar year, which ended on March 20.
Speaking of pollution, Iran's Tehran is considered to be among the most polluted cities in the world.
Last year, according to PSI (Pollutant Standards Index), Iran had 147 days during which air quality was substandard. Two years ago, this number stood at 217 days.
