TEHRAN - Iranian Oil Pipeline and Telecommunication Company (IOPTC) has managed to transmit over 66 billion liters of crude oil and petroleum products across the country via pipelines over the first half of the current Iranian calendar year 1401 (March 21-September 22), the IOPTC managing director said on Saturday.

“In the first six months of 1401, a total of 34.5 billion liters of crude oil and 31.7 billion liters of petroleum products were transported in the country,” Arsalan Rahimi said in a press conference on the occasion of IOPTC’s 20th establishment anniversary.

Operating 14,000 kilometers of pipelines across the country, IOPTC is responsible for transporting crude oil from production fields to refineries and transmitting petroleum products from refineries to the consuming end, Shana quoted the official as saying.

According to the official, on average, IOPTC has transmitted 186 million liters of crude oil and 170 million liters of products across the country on a daily basis over the first six months of the current year.

Referring to the transmission of 128 billion liters of crude oil and petroleum products in the country in the previous Iranian calendar year, Rahimi said: “if there was no network of pipelines in the country, about 4.3 million trucks were needed to transfer this huge volume of oil and products.”

The official emphasized the constant readiness of the company's industrial telecommunication systems and stated: “Considering the increase in the price of petroleum products and crude oil, preventing stealing from pipelines has become one of the major concerns of this company, which in addition to imposing economic costs has resulted in environmental and sometimes life-threatening risks.”

He announced the signing of numerous memorandums of understanding with domestic knowledge-based companies in order to monitor the country's pipelines and prevent illegal branching, saying: “The construction of branching detectors and hardware equipment to detect branching based on line pressure changes is being pursued by the company.”

EF/MA