Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 15
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran is developing a crude oil blending system to diversify its crude oil basket for export, Mehdi Hassani, research director of Iran Oil Terminals Company (IOTC), said.
The project, which is under implementation in Kharg oil terminal in Persian Gulf, has progressed by 50 percent, Hassani said, oil ministry’s SHANA news agency reported Aug. 15.
He further said customers may want an oil type that is not extracted from our oilfields, so that the system will blend various types of crude oil and produce specific oil, based on the clients’ demands.
Each oil refinery is designed for a specific type of oil and can’t process other types. For changing the feedstock, the refinery should be re-designed and its equipments must be changed.
Earlier, Pirouz Mousavi, managing director of IOTC, said Iran produces several types of crude oil: extra heavy, heavy, sour, sweet, light as well as gas condensates, so, it can blend them to produce specific crude oils needed for various refineries.
The IOTC and Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI) signed an agreement for a research project on developing the crude oil blending system in 2013.
The system, which would blend crude oil at the pace of 65,000 barrels per hour, is aimed at diversifying crude oil mix in Iran in view of more effective presence in international markets.
