TEHRAN- Iran’s Persian Gulf Star Refinery (PGSR)’s exported products during the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-September 21) were 120 percent more than the products exported in the same period of time in the past year.

Such a noticeable increase has been achieved despite the sanctions, PGSR’s Managing Director Mohammad-Ali Dadvar said adding, “Given the high output of this refinery, not only has Iran become independent in terms of gasoline production, the country has also become an exporter of this product”.

Persian Gulf Star Refinery in the southern province of Hormozgan is the first of its kind designed based on gas condensate feedstock received from the South Pars gas field which Iran shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf.

Construction of the refinery started in 2006, but the project was delayed as the result of some mismanagement and also financial limitation due to the West-led sanctions against Iran.

As the largest processing facility for gas condensate in West Asia, PGSR is planned to play a big role to turn Iran into an exporter of gasoline.

Iran exported over $1 billion worth of gasoline in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-August 21), following a decrease of consumption and increase of production in the country.

Despite the sanctions, industry data indicates that Iran has not only managed to continue exporting some volumes but actually boosted exports almost three-fold in the mentioned period compared to the previous year.

The significant increase in the country’s gasoline production and exports comes despite the fact that nearly 15 years ago Iran was importing over 10 billion liters of gasoline every year.

Iran became a net gasoline exporter in February 2019, after the inauguration of the third phase of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery project which added 120,000 barrels to the country’s daily gasoline production.

MA/MA