TEHRAN (NIORDC) __ Explaining the most important plans of the Ministry of Petroleum at the same time as the Fajr holidays and emphasizing that the US maximum pressure campaign against Iran has failed, the Minister of Petroleum said: "We are solving the challenge of investors in the field of petro-refinery building

According to IRIB, Javad Owji, stating that the construction of petro-refineries is to prevent the sale of crude oil, added: "If today we could process all our oil production in refineries, we could easily export all our products."

"Unfortunately, this did not happen in the country in the past and nothing was added to the refining capacity of the country," Owji said, adding if the current trend continues, Iran would become an importer of petroleum products and gasoline in the near future.

He added: "The discussion of the law on petro-refineries and the use of feedstock bonuses was seriously pursued under the 13th government, and contracts for production of about 1,460,000 barrels per day of petroleum products have been signed."
The Minister of Petroleum stated that eight contracts in the field of crude oil and four contracts for the use of gas condensate as feedstock have been signed with major contractors.

Owji said: "We are trying to resolve the investments challengers and are planning to set up a major consortium. In the petro-refining industry, $2.5b to $3b investment is needed for every 100,000 barrels of output."
The Minister of Petroleum predicted about 200,000 barrels per day would be exploited in the next one to two years in the petro-refining sector, adding: "God willing, in the next 4 to 6 years, we will seal contracts to the capacity of 1,460,000 barrels."

No Fuel Shortage this Winter

Mr. Owji went on to add: "At the beginning of the 13th government, the level of fuel storage of power plants was 20 to 25 percent lower than last year which was sorted out by increasing tanker fees by 30% in the country."

The Minister of Petroleum stated that the price of liquid fuel for major industries was calculated at the price of gas and this winter there was no shortage of fuel in any part of the country and wherever there was a shortage, "we compensated it with liquid fuel," adding: "Last year in January and February many blackouts occurred, but this year we are increasing liquid fuel for major industries and power plants at the right time, a 20 percent increase over last year."