Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji talked about the plans to bring the country’s oil refining capacity from current 2.2 mbpd to 3.5 mbpd within the next 4 to 5 years, reported the News Agency of Iran Oil Ministry.
Speaking to reporters following a visit to Tehran Oil Refinery on Friday, Owji said, "God willing, according to the defined schedule for existing oil refineries and new refineries, in the next four to five years, the capacity of the country's refineries will increase one and a half times."
Owji stated that his ministry has two agendas regarding refineries; the first is to improve the quantity and quality of existing refineries and the second is to increase refining capacity by building new refineries or petro-refineries.
"Fortunately, investors have been identified for building new refineries and expanding existing refineries, and agreements have been reached with them,” he said.
"This year, considering that we will not have an additional volumes in the field of natural gas production and consumption in the domestic, industrial and power sectors will increase by 10% compared to last year, we expect to face a deficit of 200 mcm/d of natural gas in the cold season, which according to the plans for replacement with liquid fuel, we will try not to cause any trouble for the people.”
He also touched on gas diplomacy, and said: "One of the issues we are pursuing is the issue of gas diplomacy with neighboring countries, including Turkmenistan. We will also have this issue on the agenda to increase the current 2% share of Iran's gas trade.
We will also hold talks with Turkmenistan, Iraq and other neighboring countries to increase gas exports and trade.”