By Dalga Khatinoglu
Iran inaugurated a number of gasoline and gas oil production units in Shazand, Abadan, Tehran, Lavan, and Isfahan refineries the current year, which resulted in a slight boost in the country's total output capacity. The quality of the produced gasoline was also improved. However, the country's oil products' output didn't change much in 2013 in general.
Based on OPEC's annual report, Iran's refining capacity stood at 1.68 million barrels per day in 2012, around 5.1 percent less than its preceding year. Iran daily produced around 262 million liters of gasoline, gas oil, kerosene, and fuel oil in the previous year.
The country mainly exported fuel oil in the current year. It also exported some amounts of kerosene and naphtha.
Reuters last month quoted an Iranian oil official as saying that the country exported 600,000 barrels of oil per month (21.3 million liters per day) in the first three quarters of the current year.
Former Deputy Oil Minister Alireza Zeyqhami also said on May 4 that Iran daily exports 20 million liters of various oil products.
The statistics show that Iran increased its fuel oil exports significantly in 2012 to compensate the crude oil exports decrease. Although the figure shows some increase compared to 2011, but it's less than the previous year.
According to Hossein Aghayan, an official with the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, Iran exported 10 billion liters of fuel oil (27.4 million liters per day) in the previous year. The figure shows that Iran has decreased fuel oil exports up to 6 million liters per day in the current year.
Besides the mentioned exported amount, the rest of Iran's oil products (gasoline, gas oil, fuel oil, and kerosene) output is being consumed domestically.
Zeyqhami had previously told the Mehr News Agency that Iran daily produces 60 million liters of gasoline, 92 million liters of gas oil, 84 million liters of fuel oil, and 26 million liters of kerosene, which makes a total of 262 million liters.
Mehr News Agency reported on December 20 that based on the statistics released by the National Iranian Oil Refining & Distribution Company, Iran's gasoline consumption stands at 70 million liters (7.5 percent increase compared to previous year), while the country's gas oil consumption hit 100-105 million liters, which is 8 percent more than the previous year.
The report also suggested that Iran's fuel oil consumption was around 51 million liters per day, which shows no significant change compared to previous year. Kerosene's consumption also stood at 8 million liters per day, which is 8 million liters less than the previous year.
Therefore, by adding 21.4 million liters of exported fuel oil to the figure, we can conclude that Iran's total oil products output stood at 256 million liters in the current year.
In other words, Iran has increased production of some products but decreased some others, which means the country's output and exports of oil products have not changed significantly.
However, the changes have been positive since the country has increased production of more valuable products such as gasoline and gas oil.
Mehr New Agency reported on December 24 that by inaugurating some new units in refineries, Iran has increased its production capacity of gasoline conforming to Euro-4 and Euro-5 standards up to 30 million liters per day. But the figure is not real.
The managing director of National Iranian Oil Refining & Distribution Company, Abbas Kazemi, said on December 24 that the country only has the capacity to produce and distribute 13 million liters of gasoline conforming to Euro-4 and Euro-5 standards. The figure is 17 million liters less than the amount that Iran's previous administration used to claim.
However, it's obvious that Iran's gasoline consumption has increased and the quality has been improved as well.
According to Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Iran currently imports some gasoline and octane boosters. Mehr News Agency puts the figure at 5-7 million liters per day.
Iran's total gasoline production capaicty was around 60 million liters per day in the previous year.
Dalga Khatinoglu is Trend Persian Service head
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