Self-sufficient Iran has stopped importing petrol: minister

Self-sufficient Iran has stopped importing petrol: minister
by Staff Writers Tehran (AFP) Sept 18, 2010 Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi said on Saturday that Iran had now stopped importing petrol, a commodity targeted by world powers in new sanctions against Tehran's controversial nuclear drive. "No purchase has been made of petrol since last month," Mirkazemi was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying.
It reported him as saying Iran's daily petrol production had reached 66.5 million litres per day, more than the national requirement of 64 million litres.
On September 7, Mirkazemi said that Iran had now reached "self-sufficiency" in petrol production, adding that previously it produced 44 million litres a day and imported 20 million litres in order to meet domestic need.
On Saturday, Mirkazemi said any new imports of petrol would help to boost the country's domestic reserves.
Iran recently launched an emergency plan aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in petrol production by the end of the current Iranian year to March 20, 2011.
Prior to that, Tehran said its target was to meet its own refined fuel needs by 2012.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Iran says it is self-sufficient in gasoline: state TV (reuters.com)
• Iran says it can cope with petrol sanctions (ft.com)
• Iran's Nuclear Sanctions Make China, Russia Winners (businessweek.com)