Gasoline storage capacity up 120m liters

Deputy director of operations at Iranian Oil Pipelines and Telecommunications Company (IOPTC) says using the company's storages has increased the country's gasoline storage capacity by 120 million liters, IRNA reported on Saturday.

According to Ali Ahmadipour, since the country’s gasoline consumption has declined in recent months due to the coronavirus outbreak, new measures have been taken to utilize the available storage spaces across the country for storing the surplus gasoline.

During the last month, the available crude oil storage tanks were emptied and cleared to be used as gasoline storages, the official added.

He further noted that more storages are being prepared by the company to be allocated for gasoline and over 40 million liters of new capacity will be available in the coming weeks.

Daily gasoline consumption in Iran fell sharply in the recent month following the travel restrictions applied amid the COVD-19 outbreak.

The consumption had already fell significantly due to the implementation of the rationing plan and the increase in gasoline prices.

In early March, Keramat Veiskarami, the managing director of National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC), announced that daily gasoline consumption in the country reached 49.3 million liters on average from the beginning of current Iranian calendar year (March 20) up to March 29.

Later in April, the official said average daily gasoline consumption in Iran fell to 44 million liters.

The fall in the gasoline consumption comes as the country’s daily gasoline production capacity exceeded 100 million liters after the launch of Persian Gulf Star Refinery’s third phase back in July 2019.

Back in July 2019, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh had said that the country’s daily gasoline production is 15 million liters more than the consumption.

source: TehranTimes