TEHRAN – Iranian Oil Ministry is planning to establish eight new petro-refineries in collaboration with the private sector, aiming to double production in the oil and gas sector’s downstream sector.

The ministry’s plan was announced in a meeting of the Government Economic Coordination Headquarters on Monday, IRNA reported.

In this meeting, chaired by President Ebrahim Raisi, the Oil Ministry’s plan for the development of the mentioned petro-refineries in the southern coasts of the country was proposed and it was decided that the National Development Fund (NDF) would participate in the financing of these projects using its legal capacities.

During the gathering, the ministry’s program for increasing the country’s crude oil production capacity was also discussed and it was decided that the government should help in providing sufficient financial resources to the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in this regard.

The aim of this program, which is expected to improve Iran's position in the global oil market in the coming years, is to increase the recovery factor of the country’s existing fields while modernizing the country’s oil extraction equipment.

Iran has been following new strategies to build more petro-refineries across the country and even to turn the country’s existing refineries into petro-refineries, since due to the country's benefit from oil and gas resources, the development of petro-refineries is much easier and relatively cheaper in Iran than other countries in the world, and the country can play a role in regulating the price of petrochemical products in the world due to its proximity to energy sources and its capacity for the development of petro-refineries.

Back in August, Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council tasked Oil Ministry to take the necessary measures for increasing the capacity of the country’s petro-refineries to at least three million barrels per day (bpd) in the Seventh Five-Year National Development Plan (2021-2026).

Earlier that month, major Iranian banks had signed memorandums of understanding (MOU) with domestic companies to provide $17.8 billion for the construction of a large-scale refinery and a petro-refinery in southern Iran.

EF/MA