Iranian companies replace German firm to supply equipment for gasoline production unit

TEHRAN,June 16(MNA) - Two Iranian companies have manufactured equipment for Tabriz Oil Refinery’s gasoline production unit as a German company has not met its obligation to provide equipment due to international sanctions, the Mehr News Agency quoted the refinery’s managing director Adel Nejadsalim as saying. He added that by the end of the next Iranian calendar month of Tir (July 22), the gasoline production unit will be inaugurated at the refinery and it will start production in the next month. The new production unit will increase the refinery’s gasoline output by one million liters per day to reach 6 million liters, meeting Euro-4 standard, he said. At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors.   The sanctions, which prevent the EU member states from purchasing Iranian oil or extending insurance coverage for tankers carrying Iranian crude, came into effect on July 1, 2012. Iranian refiners have been obliged to supply gasoline meeting Euro-4 standards since the beginning of the next Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2013), the Mehr News Agency quoted Iranian Standards Organization’s Deputy Director Bahador Kazemi as saying on January 12. The produced gasoline currently meets Euro-2 standards, he said, adding that newly established refineries are able to produce gasoline which meets both Euro-4 and Euro-5 standards. In October 2012, ISNA quoted National Iranian Oil Production and Distribution Company’s managing director Alireza Zeighami as saying that Iran is currently producing 25 million liters of premium gasoline per day, meeting euro-4 and euro-5 standards.