TEHRAN – Head of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) Jalil Salari said on Sunday that the country has delivered three gasoil shipments to Asian refineries over the past Iranian calendar month (January 21-February 19), Shana reported.

Speaking to the press on the sideline of a signing ceremony in Tehran, Salari noted that although the Islamic Republic has the appropriate capacity to export petroleum products even to Europe, the focus is currently on supplying the domestic market and storing enough fuel to meet the country’s needs in peak consumption periods.

He further emphasized the need for developing infrastructure for the exports of oil products in the country.

In response to a question about the possibility of exporting petroleum products to western countries, including the United States, if the sanctions are lifted, he said: "We have already assigned a group of experts to study crude oil grades used in refineries of various countries; at the moment our focus is to send crude oil to the consumer markets instead of supplying oil products.”

NIORDC, on Sunday, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Tejarat Bank to cooperate in a project for constructing a pipeline to transfer oil and petroleum products from southern Hormozgan Province to Fars Province.

The MOU was signed in a ceremony attended by Oil Minister Javad Oji, Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ehsan Khandouzi, NIORDC Head Jalil Salari, and Managing Director of Tejarat Bank Hadi Akhlaghi-Feyz.

As reported, the pipeline (known as Pars pipeline) extends over 400 kilometers from Mehravaran in Hormozgan Province to Shiraz city and is going to transfer 12 million liters of oil and petroleum products on a daily basis.

Optimal fuel distribution in Fars Province, using the pipeline as an alternative to road transportation of products, reducing traffic and fuel consumption, reducing operational costs, reducing road hazards and pollution, and increasing the storage volume of petroleum products in the mentioned province are among the goals of constructing this new pipeline.

NIORDC had previously signed an MOU with Bank Mellat in January for cooperation in the construction of a strategic pipeline for transferring oil products in eastern provinces.

EF/MA