TEHRAN -- Iran is to raise its capacity of storing crud oil and oil derivatives, which presently stands at 800 billion liters, by setting up 102 storage tanks with 1.1 billion liters capacity in the Third Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2000-05), IRNA reported.

Deputy Oil Minister and Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Oil Derivatives Distribution Company, Mohammad Aqaie, said at a press conference here on Tuesday that his company has thus far managed to set up tanks to store about 700 million liters of oil and oil derivatives and operations are underway for construction of other tanks, half of which to be put into operation by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (ended March 20).

He said there are also plans to raise refineries' oil storage capacity by 3.5 million barrels by the end of the Third Plan (2000-2005).

“Implementation of 15 projects by end of the Third Plan is top on the agenda,” Aqaie stressed. The projects aim to raise the length of pipelines for transfer of oil and oil derivatives by 2,500 kilometers to about 14,000 kilometers, he added.

Establishment of big jet fueling stations, including four in Sanandaj, Hamedan, Rafsanjan, and Ardebil airports, that will be put into operation by September, as well as construction of more such stations in Sari, Birjand, Khorramabad, Jiroft, Sabzevar, and Ilam airports, by next March, is among other projects the company is pursuing, he said.

He said that his company has offered to two Iranian contractors the projects to increase Abadan refinery's gasoline, diesel and kerosene production capacity up to 180,000 barrels. He added that the project will come on stream by September 2004.

He added that once phase one of the projects for development of Bandar Abbas refinery is completed, its capacity for production of oil derivatives will rise to 320,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 232,000 bpd.

The official said the bid to design the project will be offered to Italian firm Snam Progetti and the result would be clear by October. He added that afterwards, selection of the contractor for implementing the project would be put on tender and the first phase of the development project is expected to come on stream by 2005.

Aqaie said that his company is to replace kiln oil and diesel with natural gas at power plants, thus slashing consumption of the oil derivative by the sector to four billion liters a year from eight billion liters the previous year.

He said that in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21), diesel consumption rose by 4.6 percent to 66.5 million liters a day. He said the transportation sector consumed 58 percent of the product in the period.