Iran sends gasoline cargo to Afghanistan, seeks exports

Iran, which said last year that it had become self-sufficient in the production of gasoline, exported 1,000 metric tons of the fuel to Afghanistan, deputy Oil Minister Alireza Zeighami said.

Iran may export two more shipments to the neighboring country, the state-run Fars news agency reported today citing Zeiqhami. The official also said that Iran was in negotiations with several other countries in the region to sell the fuel. Gasoline is typically shipped in sea-going tankers of 30,000-ton capacity and trade in 1,000- to 2,000-ton barge lots in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp oil-hub.

The Oil Ministry announced last month that it was planning to export four gasoline consignments by March 20, the end of the Iranian calendar year.

Iran is under four rounds of United Nations sanctions because it refuses to curtail its nuclear energy program, which the U.S. and European Union believe conceals an effort to develop weapons. The U.S. tightened its own sanctions against Iran on July 1 to target foreign suppliers of gasoline. Iran responded to the restrictions through a temporary program of producing the motor fuel from its petrochemical plants.

Oil Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi said Jan. 16 that Iran’s gasoline reserves had “reached a peak” and noted that demand for the fuel had eased after the government cut fuel subsidies in December.

Iran, the second-largest oil producer in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia, previously relied on imports for as much as 40 percent of its gasoline needs because it lacked the refining capacity to meet domestic consumption.

Source: Bloomberg