Iran to launch major gasoline production unit

TEHRAN,Jan.28(MNA)--Iran will launch the country’s largest gasoline production unit at the Shazand Oil Refinery, located in Markazi province, with the capacity to produce 8.2 million liters of premium gasoline per day, an official with the National Iranian Oil Production and Distribution Company (NIOPDC) said. Rashid Seyedian told that some €270 million has been so far invested in the project and the unit will come on stream by February 19. Four development plans will come on stream by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2012), boosting the country’s gasoline production capacity to 70 million liters per day. Iranian gasoline imports have slumped by as much as 95 percent over the last four years, according to official government data, as rising refinery capacity and lower fuel subsidies help neutralize Western sanctions aimed at starving Tehran of fuel.