TEHRAN – Managing director of National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC) says upgrading the country’s automotive industry will reduce gasoline consumption by 17 million liters per day (MLD), Shana reported.

Speaking in a seminar on fuel consumption management in Tehran on Sunday, Amir Vakilzadeh said: “Compared to international standards, every car in Iran consumes one liter more gasoline every day. So with an estimation of 17 million cars being used in the country, 17 million liters of gasoline will be saved per day only by upgrading the automotive industry.”

He emphasized that CNG constitutes 23.5 percent of the country’s fuel consumption basket while LPG accounts for 1.5 percent of the fuel consumption.

“So far the Oil Ministry has constructed 2,500 CNG stations across the country in which 20 million cubic meters of CNG is distributed on a daily basis,” he added.

According to the official, currently, there are about four million dual-fuel vehicles in the country.

Vakilzadeh further pointed out that of the 900 million cubic meters of gas which is produced daily in the country, only two percent is consumed in the CNG sector. 

“The future plans for the country's fuel basket are focusing on increasing CNG's share to over 25 percent,” he added.

According to the managing director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC), Iran’s daily CNG currently stands at 800 million cubic meters.

Making the remarks in the same seminar titled “CNG, an Opportunity for Sustainable Development”, Alireza Sadeqabadi said that energy consumption is high and uncontrolled in all household, industrial, transportation, power plant, and commercial sectors of the country.

The official further announced that about 1.5 million public transportation vehicles will become dual-fuel in the country by the next 12-15 months.

EF/MA