Iran in Talks with Japan to Optimize Oil Refining Process
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran is finalizing negotiations with two major Japanese companies to improve the efficiency of Tehran’s aging refinery, an official announced.
In an interview with Tasnim, Abbas Kazemi, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC), said Iran has been in talks with Japanese and South Korean companies to optimize oil refining process in two old refineries in Tehran and Bandar Abbas.
One of the major plans is to optimize output in the refineries and reduce the production of fuel oil, a low-cost by-product of petroleum distillation process that is cheaper than crude, but produced in large amounts in the country’s aging refineries, he explained.
According to Kazemi, South Koreans and Japanese have shown enthusiasm for investment in Iran to renovate the Iranian refineries following implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a nuclear agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
The final round of negotiations with JGC Corporation and JCCP (Japan Cooperation Center, Petroleum) has begun to renovate Tehran’s refinery, he noted.
The official further said that plans for improving the efficiency of the country’s aging refineries in Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz, Bandar Abbas and Abadan, producing oil products in compliance with the Euro-4 emission standards and reducing the share of fuel oil to below 10 percent of the total output will require $14 billion in investment.
In late December 2016, Daelim Industrial, a leading South Korean construction and petrochemical company, said it has won a multibillion-dollar contract to renovate and expand Isfahan Oil Refinery in central Iran.
Daelim Industrial will work on a series of projects in the refinery, from facility design to construction and financing, over a span of four years.
