Emergency plans will help Iran boost gasoline output sharply by early 2012, an official said in comments published on Sunday, after the US Congress approved a bill to penalise firms supplying the Islamic state with the fuel.
Iran is the world’s fifth-largest oil producer but lack of sufficient refining capacity forces it to import up to 40 per cent of its gasoline needs — making it potentially vulnerable to punitive measures targeting the trade.
Iran’s deputy oil minister Ali-Reza Zeighami said on Sunday that gasoline production would increase by 17 million litres by the end of the next Iranian year, which runs until March 2012, “through the implementation of emergency plans,” the daily Resalat said.
This would amount to almost the same volumes that Iran is now importing. Resalat said Iran currently produces about 43 million litres of gasoline per day.
The threat of US sanctions on suppliers to Iran has reduced the pool of companies prepared to sell gasoline to the Opec member, although Iranian officials say the country faces no problems in buying what it needs.
Mr Zeighami said the output would increase by 11 million litres at the Arak refinery. —Reuters