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.