Iran cuts import of oil products

By Fatma Babayeva

Caspian littoral states decreased export of oil products to Iran during the first quarter of 2016, reports the Iranian Ports and Maritime Organization.

The volume of oil products offloaded at Iran’s Caspian ports significantly decreased in the first three months of 2016. Roughly 175,679 tons of oil products have been unloaded in Neka, Anzali, Fereidoon Kenar and Amirabad ports of Iran on the Caspian coast while the figure for the first quarter of 2016 was 112,569 tons.

Only in Neka port, the volume of unloaded oil products has not decreased for the given period.

In total, Iran unloaded 5.722 million tons of oil products from all of its ports, including those located on Persian Gulf’s coast during the first quarter of 2016 compared to 9.129 million tons offloaded for the same period of 2015, which indicates a huge decrease.

The total amount of imported and exported oil products at the ports of Iran in the first quarter of 2016 increased by 6 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. Namely, the total volume at all ports reached to 30.173 million tons for the first quarter of 2016 which is about 5.346 million tons more than the same period of 2015.

The volume of Iran’s loading and unloading of oil products increased by 1.8 percent in 2015 compared to 2014, and by 16.4 percent in 2015, according to the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran.

Iran’s Persian Gulf Star gas condensate refinery located in the south of the country will fully come on stream by the next 1.5 years, said Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Iranian Oil Minister, adding that this will make Iran self-sufficient in meeting its domestic needs for gasoline.

Iran is also interested in buying shares of existing refineries or building new ones abroad, and holds talks with Spain, Indonesia, and Brazil etc.

The removal of anti-Iran sanctions following a nuke deal signed with the world powers has helped Tehran to pursue a rapid boom in its oil industry.