By the end of the fifth five-year development plan (2015), Iran’s gas refining capacity will be increased to one million barrels per day (mbpd), the former deputy oil minister said.

“Two gas refineries is planned to come on stream by the end of the fifth development plan, one with the capacity of 360,000 bpd and the other with the capacity of 120,000 bpd,” Akbar Torkan said, the ILNA news agency reported.

Iran plans to boost its oil refining capacity to 3.5 million barrels per day by the end of the next Iranian calendar year (March 2013) from the current volume of 1.7 mbpd.

Iran’s oil refining capacity increased 18 percent last year, the biggest growth among OPEC members, according to the Annual Statistical Bulletin of the 12-member organization.

Iranian capacity rose to 1.74 million barrels a day from 1.47 million in 2009 as facilities in Abadan, Arak, Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Lavan and Bandar Abbas expanded.