New Bandar Abbas Refinery and the 'Self-Sufficiency' Program in Gasoline Production

Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, inaugurated the first phase of a new refinery named 'Star of the Persian Gulf' on Tuesday, stating that with the start of production at this refinery, gasoline imports to Iran will cease by the end of this year. Iran has always been a gasoline importer due to weak refining capacity, importing about 11.8 million liters of gasoline daily in the 10 months leading up to the end of the last solar year. According to the official news agency IRNA, the first phase of this project was launched in the presence of Hassan Rouhani at the 'Star of the Persian Gulf' refinery located west of Bandar Abbas on National Persian Gulf Day. Reports indicate that this refinery will produce gasoline equivalent to 66% of the total production of other refineries in Iran. Accordingly, Hormozgan province, with three oil refineries, has become the supplier of 35% of Iran's gasoline. According to the Iranian President, the eleventh government has spent $1.4 billion to complete the Star of the Persian Gulf oil refinery. Rouhani noted plans for gasoline exports, adding that gasoline imports will be halted by the end of this year, and gradually the move towards exporting this product will begin. Reports indicate that with the operation of the first phase of this refinery, 12 million liters of Euro 4 gasoline, 4.5 million liters of Euro 4 diesel, 1 million liters of Euro 4 kerosene, and 1.3 million liters of Euro 4 liquefied gas (LPG) will be produced daily. According to Abadollah Abdollahi, commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Base, with the full operation of the Star of the Persian Gulf refinery and the production of 36 million liters of Euro 4 and 5 quality gasoline, gasoline production in Iran will exceed 100 million liters per day, which will not only stop gasoline imports but also allow for the export of this product and improve the quality of domestic fuel, thus joining the ranks of gasoline exporters. The feedstock (gas condensates) needed for the Star of the Persian Gulf refinery is supplied through a pipeline over 388 kilometers long from the gas refineries in Assaluyeh. Iran has planned to invest $14 billion in its six old refineries to both raise the quality of produced products to high standards like Euro 4 and increase the share of high-quality products like diesel and gasoline. Iran also has several major new refinery projects named 'Star of the Persian Gulf, Siraf, Anahita, and Bahman Genu,' aiming to add about 1.29 million barrels to its refining capacity and reach 3.1 million barrels per day within the next five years. The issue of production levels and contaminated gasoline Self-sufficiency in gasoline production has been a long-standing aspiration in Iran, and previous claims and efforts have been made in this regard. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former President of Iran, announced on August 20, 2009, that Iran could produce all its gasoline needs domestically within a week. He made this statement when Iran was importing about 40% of its gasoline needs. This statement from the tenth government was in response to a bill passed three weeks earlier by the U.S. Senate, which sanctioned companies selling gasoline to the Islamic Republic by the U.S. Department of Energy. According to ILNA news agency, Ahmadinejad stated, 'We have now reached such a capacity in our industry that we can supply all our gasoline within a week by changing the production line.' However, Iran's emergency plan to increase gasoline production led to increased pollution in cities due to the inability to adhere to standard principles. On December 9, 2010, during a press conference explaining the cause of increased air pollution, Ahmadinejad attributed it to the breathing of 8 million Tehranis, stating, 'Even if no cars move in the streets, the exhalation of eight million people, which releases carbon monoxide and other gases, creates pollution, and airflow is not established, and in some times of the year, the phenomenon of air inversion also occurs.' Despite Ahmadinejad's verbal acknowledgment of air pollution, Firouz Panahi, the project manager of petrochemical gasoline, admitted in an interview with Fars News Agency on September 13, 2010, that its aromatic compounds were somewhat high but added, 'This gasoline is not delivered to the community as final gasoline but enters the currency unit of other refineries and is mixed with low-octane gasoline to produce a standard gasoline with low aromatic content and normal octane that complies with Euro standards.' However, after a year, he confirmed the contamination of the produced gasoline and, in an interview explaining the reason for the pollution of petrochemical gasoline, admitted that the production process in petrochemical complexes was carried out without using reforming and upgrading processes. He emphasized that contrary to the plan he had prepared, what was produced in petrochemical plants was delivered to refineries without any reforming processes and reaching modern standards. This was also confirmed by Masoumeh Ebtekar, head of the Environmental Protection Organization, who stated in a specialized meeting examining the impact of air pollution on chemical veterans in December 2011, 'There was supposed to be a temporary policy regarding gasoline without regard to the health of people and the environment, but this policy has become long-term... Currently, under no circumstances is the current gasoline supplied acceptable, and according to new measurements from the Air Quality Control Company, the amount of benzene in the current gasoline, which is very dangerous and carcinogenic, is 35 times the permissible limit in Tehran, which has worsened compared to last year.' It is still unclear whether the self-sufficiency process in gasoline, which began on May 1 coinciding with National Persian Gulf Day, has overcome the shortcomings in the production of this energy carrier or whether there is still a possibility of increased air pollution using this type of gasoline. Abbas Kazemi, the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, mentioned the gas condensate refinery of this complex as one of the most important beneficiaries of the JCPOA during the inauguration ceremony of the first phase of the Star of the Persian Gulf oil refinery, stating, 'The JCPOA ignited the engine of development for this refinery.'