Page 11 - Downstream Monitor - MEA Week 35

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Iran gasoline production reaches record levels
miDDLe east
IRAN hit a record 76mn litres of Euro-4 grade gasoline produced in its refineries in the final month of the 2018/2019 Persian year (ended March 20) and was presently managing to keep up with that level, official energy news agency Shana has quoted the country’s oil minister as disclosing.
Iran’s Persian Gulf Star Refinery now pro- duces the bulk of locally consumed gasoline, which is some of the cheapest in the world thanks to the Islamic Republic’s vast oil resources and subsidies.
Another phase of the refinery was launched earlier this year.
The low cost of Iranian gasoline and the severe devaluation of the Iranian rial (IRR) in the face of US sanctions has, meanwhile, given Iran a big problem with gasoline smuggling.
Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh noted that Iran
was producing almost zero gasoline back in 2012, when the country relied on fuel imports. The country’s daily gasoline production capacity stood at 115mn litres, 11mn litres above its daily demand, he added.
“Excess output will be earmarked for export [ to regional markets],” Zangeneh said, pointing out that of all the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) “Iran is now the largest producer of gasoline among them”.
“US [sanctions] do not allow Iran procure- ment of certain equipment [in the refining and petroleum industries] for the betterment of the environment, which is a crime; however, we will supply them anyway,” the minister also said.
As part of its commitment to environmental- ly-sound production, Namdar Zangeneh said he hoped Iran would meet a target of stopping all gas flaring by 2021.™
PiPeLines
Iraq crude set to arrive in Jordan
miDDLe east
AFTER lengthy delays, the first batch of Iraqi crude left Kirkuk for Jordan under a deal that will see 10,000 barrel cargoes arrive daily by truck.
The first of these left Kirkuk on September 1 and will arrive on September 3, marking the first Iraqi crude Jordan has received since 2014.
Jordan’s Energy Minister Hala Zawati said the bilateral deal included that the flows should cover around 7% of Jordan’s current demand, buying the oil at a $16 per barrel discount to Brent in order to cover the transport and devi- ation in specifications. In return, Iraqi goods exported through the port of Aqaba will receive preferential rates. Zawati said: “This is the start of a new era in energy co-operation between the two countries.” She added that more than 200 trucks, roughly 100 from each country, would be used to transport the oil to Jordan’s Petroleum Refinery at Zarqa.
The country’s Ministry of Energy and Min- eral Resoures (MEMR) floated a crude transport tender in March following the signing of a mem- orandum of understanding (MoU) between Zawati and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister for Energy and Minister of Oil Thamir Ghadhban in Amman and Baghdad in February.
Jordanian firm Burj Al Hayat Transport and Trading was declared the winner and was
awarded a deal to truck a total of 500,000 tonnes (3.67mn barrels) of crude from Kirkuk.
Preliminary work to develop the 1mn bpd, $5bn Basra-Aqaba pipeline is thought to be nearing, with Iraqi Ministry of Oil (MoO) spokesperson Assem Jihad saying in July that “investment offers from international compa- nies” were under evaluation on the basis of estab- lishing “the pipeline in return for a percentage thatwillbedeductedforeachexportedbarrel”.
This follows trips to Iraq earlier this year by Zawati and Jordan’s King Abdullah, with bilat- eral energy relations revealed to have been high on the agenda.
The king’s visit was the first by the monarch since 2008. On September 1, Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said that the test cargoes totalled 3,480 barrels.™
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