iran stopped importing gasoline last year!!!
Why do people here talk without checking their facts???
Iran will become a net exporter soon.
Iran gasoline exporter by 2015: Report
Iran’s plans to increase its oil refining capacity will allow it to join the group of gasoline exporting countries within five years, a London-based energy think tank says in a report.
tehran times : Iran gasoline exporter by 2015: Report
btw, 90 percent of the costs of gasoline are the oil itself which Iran has plenty. In the past we would just send our own oil, with our own tankers, to different countries with excess refining capacity. With that process we paid very little money. I still think we should continue that because it would be very cost effective compared to building new refineries but it looks bad internationally.
the figures for 2010 have not been compiled yet. For 2009, the follwoing facts are available.
excerpt taken from:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/Iran/Oil.html
Gasoline
In 2008, Iran consumed around 400,000 bbl/d of gasoline, roughly the same amount as in 2007.
Iran does not currently have sufficient refining capacity to meets its domestic gasoline and other light fuel needs. However, according to FACTS Global Energy, government targets for domestic gasoline refinery projects combined with the elimination of gasoline subsidies could make Iran a gasoline exporter by 2013. FACTS Global Energy forecasts approximately 2% demand growth in 2010, increasing to 3% through 2015.
The Rationing System
In late December 2009, private motorist gasoline quotas at the subsidized price of $0.38 per gallon ($0.10 per liter) was reduced from 26 gallons per month (g/m; 100 liters per month) to 21 g/m (80 liters per month). Part-time taxis, commercial vehicles, and government vehicles have special allowances. Iranian officials have publicly discussed the possibility of reducing the subsidized quota to around 16 g/m (60 liters per month).
Gasoline Imports
Iran gasoline imports approximated 130,000 bbld/ in 2009, nearly 80 percent of total product imports. Over the course of the year, Iran’s gasoline import sources and volumes may change. For example, a company trading gasoline volumes in March may raise, lower, or not supply volumes in April, or any other month of the year.
According to industry sources, some large, multinational wholesalers such as Glencore, Trafigura, and Vitol regularly provided Iran with gasoline in 2009.
You should try reading your own quoted source before you fly off the handle:
from your own source:
tehran times : Iran gasoline exporter by 2015: Report
Iran gasoline exporter by 2015: Report
Iran’s plans to increase its oil refining capacity will allow it to join the group of gasoline exporting countries within five years, a London-based energy think tank says in a report.
According to a research note released Thursday by Energy Market Consultants (EMC), which is part of FACTS Global Energy Group, by upgrading some of its refineries, Iran will not only be able to meet its domestic gasoline needs but will also attain a surplus in production by 2015, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The EMC believes Iran is able to conclude its current schedule of upgrades at Arak, Abadan and Isfahan refineries as well as the construction of one of three condensate splitters at the Bandar Abbas refinery by 2015.
The report suggests a base-case scenario according to which, by completion of the upgrades, Iran will be able to meet its domestic gasoline need, estimated at around 400,000 barrels a day and will also achieve a small surplus in production of between 60,000 and 70,000 barrels a day.
The study group says that if the base-case scenario is realized, efforts to keep pressure on Iran in the medium and long term by limiting its access to global gasoline markets could be weakened.
According to the report, Iran produces between 280,000 and 285,000 barrels of gasoline a day and until recently had acquired the remaining 30 percent, which is about 115,000-120,000 barrels a day, through big oil companies, a number of which are European. The report also assesses a lower- and higher-case scenario for Iran's efforts to upgrade its refineries.
In the lower-case assessment the report considers only the completion of the upgrades in the Arak and Abadan refineries by 2015, resulting in a decline in Iran's imports by about 30 percent,
but leaving a continued gasoline import requirement of about 80,000-90,000 barrels a day.
In the higher-case scenario, in which the refinery upgrades in Arak, Abadan and Isfahan are completed, and all three condensate splitters in the Bandar Abbas plant are constructed, Iran will achieve a gasoline export capacity of 200,000 barrels a day.
""In the longer term, it is possible to project Iran reaching self-sufficiency in its gasoline requirements, perhaps even turning into a net exporter, but much will depend upon the funding for its domestic refinery projects and the speed of completion of these projects,"" EMC said in the report.
Iran imported 120,000 barrels a day of gasoline in May as part of a stock-building program to meet summer gasoline demands, the report said. But imports fell to 96,000 barrels a day in June.
Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Mohammad Shahnazizadeh announced in May that the country will become self-sufficient in gasoline production within three years, as policies to suppress demands and increase refining will finally free it
from a precarious reliance on imports. "
"We said by the end of the (Iranian) year 1391 (March 2013) hopefully Iran will become self-sufficient in all oil products,"" he said.
The US Congress voted in June in favor of new unilateral sanctions on Iran's energy and banking sectors over Tehran's nuclear program.
Mehdi Varzi, a London-based energy consultant, said Iran could become self-sufficient in three years if it manages to both add gasoline production capacity and raise domestic prices.
(source: Press TV)