Iran once again self-sufficient in gas oil production


Iran says it has stopped importing gas oil in the current year.
Mohsen Mazloum Farsibaf, director for planning affairs of the oil ministry, told SHANA News Agency on July 22 that the country has not imported any gas oil since the beginning of the current Iranian fiscal year (which started on March 21).
He said that the oil ministry is trying to boost gas supply instead of liquid fuel to the power plants, so the country has stopped importing gas oil.
A year after ex-President Mohammad Khatami took the office in 1997 Iran not only became self-sufficient in producing gas oil but also started to export the surplus amount. The situation remained the same during his eight years in office. But once Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became Iran's president, the country once again started to import gas oil.
In the previous fiscal year, Iran delivered around 36 billion cubic meters of gas to its power plants and consumed around 27 billion liters of mazut and gas oil to generate electricity.
But the officials announced that they will increase gas delivery to power plants up to 42 billion cubic meters in the current year.
Iran's fiscal year starts on March 21.
Earlier, Farsibaf said on July 20 that from the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year until July 15, the power plants averagely consumed the equivalent of 200 million cubic meters of gas per day, out of which 160 million cubic meters was actually natural gas, and the rest was liquid fuel.
"In other words, gas and liquid fuel accounted for 80 and 20 percent of the power plants' total feed consumption, respectively, in the mentioned period. It is while the figure was around 60 and 40 percent, respectively, in the previous fiscal year", he said.
The statistics of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, million liters per day
Gas oil output
Gas oil consumption
Gas oil consumption in power plants
1998
64.7
63.8
Not available
1999
69.5
63.1
Not available
2000
69.9
66.7
Not available
2001
70.8
69.1
Not available
2002
71.8
70.8
Not available
2003
73.2
72
3.4
2004
77
75
5.3
2005
79.1
79.4
6.6
2006
80.4
86.2
12.3
2007
81.6
79.7
12.2
2008
84.9
92.5
11.7
2009
88.7
92.8
13.5
2010
85.2
95.2
16
2011
94.7
96.8
25.5
2012
93.6
97.2
21
2013
94
104
31
The managing director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company Abbas Kazemi told Shana in May that Iran has exported above 10 billion liters of mazut and gas oil since March 21 as well.
In the current month, Iran doubled its gas production rate at the Phase 12 of giant South Pars gas field, to 25 million cubic meters per day.
The country also plans to increase the gas field's total production rate by 80 million cubic meters per day by March 2015. So the liquid fuel consumption of the country's power plants will decrease.
Yet, it remains to be seen whether Iran succeeds in reducing the gas oil consumption of power plants in the current pace or not.
A glance to the statistics of Iranian calendar years correspond to 2011 and 2012 shows us that gas oil consumption of Iran's power plants in the warm months is usually 3 or 4 times less than the cold months. So we should wait and see the final gas oil consumption rate of the power plants in winter. It is yet to be seen whether Iran manages to keep refusing to import gas oil from foreign countries even in the cold months or not.
Iran's monthly gas oil consumption in power plants, million liters
2011
2012
First month of spring
137986
203440
2th month of spring
148674
322659
3th month of spring
422414
415397
First month of summer
489704
661322
2th month of summer
744831
408459
3th month of summer
443552
319408
First month of fall
232446
181919
2th month of fall
1141880
321267
3th month of fall
1361937
1626797
First month of winter
1659435
1834785
2th month of winter
1534197
545674
3th month on winter
1018223
832888

Dalga Khatinoglu is specialist on Iran's energy sector and Iran News Service head in Trend Agency

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Iran in fighting with Caspian Sea pollution

Image
Iran, with its largest population on the Caspian Sea shore among other littoral countries, is keen to save the world's biggest inland body of water from pollution and has initiated a "Comprehensive plan to reduce pollution" plan. The Fars News Agency quoted the head of Department of Environment Mohammad-Javad Mohammadzadeh as saying that the plan targets preventing entry of pollutants, including household waste, especially in Gorgan and Mazandaran provinces, to the Caspian. Meanwhile, Abdolreza Karbasi, the deputy head of Environmental Protection of Iran alarmed about the ecological state of beaches, releasing warning to swimmers in the Caspian Sea. "The pollution at some parts of the sea has exceeded the authorized limit by 100 times," he said. Iranian coastal population is around 6 million people, including residents in the regions en route the rivers that flow to the Caspian, whose household waste waters enter the sea without passing through wa
Read more

U.S. Sanctions Slow Iran’s Electricity Generation And Trading

Image
By  Dalga Khatinoglu The peak electricity demand in Iran and its neighbor clients Afghanistan and Iraq happens in warm months, but during this period last year Islamic Republic’s exports plunged due to high demand at home. Its electricity imports from Armenia and especially Turkmenistan have been declining dramatically since September. This is possibly due to U.S. banking sanctions, which restrict Iran’s ability to pay its bills. During international sanctions prior to the nuclear deal (2011-2016), Iran was also unable to pay for Turkmen gas and electricity imports, running up $2bn in debts. Iran’s electricity trade during last and the previous fiscal years (GWh/month): ​ Power Generation Iran increased nominal power generation capacity by 2.3% last year; less than half of projected growth, but its actual electricity generation increased by only 1% to 312 TWh, a fifth of projected plan. The growth rate for actual power generation is far below nominal capacity, because
Read more

Iran Launches Uncompleted Gas Project Citing Suspiciously High Production

Iran’s Oil Ministry officially opened four new phases of the South Pars gas field March 17, citing production and investment figures that don’t add up. The nominal production capacity of the newly opened phases 13, 22, 23 and 24 is 113 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d), but currently they are producing about half of that. The processing units of these phases are also operating at half capacity most probably due to Iran’s technical limitations compounded by sanctions. Phase 13 is projected to produce 56 mcm of natural gas and 75,000 barrels of gas condensate (ultra-light oil) per day, when it becomes fully operational. The capacity of phases 22-24 are together equal to phase 13. The Oil Ministry said all phases will be operating at full capacity within one year. According to Oil Ministry’s statement, some $10 billion were invested in the mentioned four phases, but ministry officials put the figure at $11 billion during the inauguration ceremony, which President Hassan Rouhani
Read more