TEHRAN – Iranian oil minister has said the country is planning to increase its gasoline exports by 20 percent in the current calendar year (began on March 21).

Masoud Mirkazemi told the Mehr News Agency that last year by boosting gasoline production in petrochemical plants and oil refineries the country is no longer an importer and has turned into an exporter of gasoline.
Following international sanctions imposed on Iran, since August, Iran has started gasoline production in 6 petrochemical complexes namely, Shazand, Arak, Jam, Borzouyeh (Nouri), Amir Kabir, Bandar Imam and Bu Ali Sina.
In these plants Iran started producing a total of 15 to 17 million liters of gasoline and 9 million liters of diesel per day.
The oil minister said last week that Iran’s gasoline production capacity will reach 80 million liters per day by the end of the current year.
Mirkazemi added that some 23 to 27 million liters would be added to the nation’s gasoline production capacity in the current year.
The country’s gasoline production output currently stands at 54.5 million liters per day.
The National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) has said the average Iranian gasoline consumption has declined to 61.1 million liters per day.
The daily gasoline consumption of the country stood at 61.1 million liters at the end of the previous year, reflecting a 3.5-million-liter reduction compared with the corresponding period in its preceding year, Press TV reported.
Iran exported its first domestically produced gasoline to Iraq in September 2010. The country stopped the export of petrochemical products following the implementation of a crash program to boost gasoline production in domestic petrochemical units