Owji says Iran could become net products importer again

Iran's oil minister Javad Owji has warned that the country could switch back to being a net gasoline and gasoil importer "within two to three years" if domestic consumption continues to grow at current rates.

Iran became a net gasoil exporter in 2016 and net gasoline exporter in early 2019 as it brought on additional crude refining and condensate splitting capacity, particularly at the Persian Gulf Star (PGS) project at Bandar Abbas.

"Given the trend of gasoline and gasoil consumption in the country, in the next two to three years we could again become a country that imports [the products]," Owji said.

He bemoaned the paucity of investment in Iran's downstream during the previous Rohani government's eight years in office, saying that additional refining capacity would have helped the country navigate through this latest period of US sanctions.

"If we could refine all of our oil production, we would be able to comfortably sell all of our products," Owji said pointing to the fact that Iran's oil product exports have proven to be more resilient to the sanctions than its crude sales.

"Unfortunately this [capacity expansion] did not take place over those years," he said.

Owji said the current government has already signed contracts with contractors to build another 1.46mn b/d of additional refining capacity "within the next four to six years," with around 200,000 b/d of that capacity scheduled to come online "within one or two years." Owji said every additional 100,000 b/d of refining capacity would require $2.5-3bn in investment.

Owji outlined a similar programme in September to raise Iran's refining capacity to 3.4mn-3.5mn b/d, from around 2.2mn b/d, by 2025.

Iran most recently announced plans to build a new 300,000 b/d refinery at Bandar Abbas, as well as a 150,000 b/d refinery on Lavan island, alongside the existing 55,000 b/d Lavan refinery.

By Ieva Paldaviciute