TEHRAN--  By launching the development plan of the Shazand Oil Refinery, Iran’s daily gasoline production would increase 4.3 million liters per day.

Inauguration ceremony of the development plan of the Shazand Oil Refinery is slated to be held tomorrow at Shazand, 300 kilometers west of Tehran, in the presence of Iran’s president.

The past inauguration ceremony of the project in last month was postponed due to bad weather.

By launching the project, gasoline production capacity of the refinery will rise by 4.3 million liters per day reaching 8.3 million liters per day from current 4 million liters per day.

Also by completion of the ongoing development plan at the refinery, which is expected to come online until the end of the current Iranian year on March 20, 2012, gasoline production capacity of the refinery will rise to 16 million liters per day.

The National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company (NIOEC) is implementing an upgrading plan at the refinery that its second phase was launched early this year ramping up gasoline production capacity of Shazand Oil Refinery by 2.8 million liters per day.

By completion of development plans, it is expected the refinery to become the largest gasoline producer of the country.

Gasoline production in Iran will be boosted by 16 million liters by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2012), the deputy oil minister said on Saturday.

Three major development plans will be completed by the end of the year, which will increase the country’s daily gasoline production capacity by 16 million liters, Alireza Zeighami told the Shana news agency.

Gasoline consumption in Iran stood at 59.1 million liters per day in the week which ended on November 4, showing 3 percent decrease in comparison with the previous week.

The consumption of four highly-consumed fuels in Iran has decreased noticeably since implementation of the subsidy reform plan in December 2010, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company said.

Iranian gasoline imports have slumped by as much as 95 percent over the last four years, according to official government data, as rising refinery capacity and lower fuel subsidies help neutralize western sanctions aimed at starving Tehran of fuel.