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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran seeks self-sufficiency in gasoline by 2013 |
| 2010-04-24 |
| TEHRAN - Iran hopes to become self-sufficient in gasoline within three years, as policies to suppress demand and increase refining will finally free it from a precarious reliance on imports, a minister said on Friday. Due to a chronic lack of refining capacity, the world's fifth largest crude exporter has to import at least 30 percent of its gasoline needs — making it vulnerable to any future sanctions that could interrupt that vital inflow. Sure would be a shame if something happened to one of those new refineries ... “We said by the end of the (Iranian) year 1391 (March 2013) hopefully Iran will become self-sufficient in all oil products,' deputy oil minister, Shahnazi Zadeh, told a news conference at an energy trade fair in Tehran. Zadeh said in 2009-10, Iran produced 44.6 million litres of gasoline every day but consumed 64.9 million litres, the difference being made up by imports. Domestic gasoline production will rise this year to 45.6 million litres a day, Zadeh said. So to become self-sufficient, Iran would still need a huge further increase in refining. Iran plans to issue bonds worth $1 billion to help fund the required investments, he told reporters. Mehdi Varzi, a London-based energy consultant, said Iran could become self-sufficient in three years if it manages to both add gasoline production capacity and raise domestic prices. He said planned refinery projects were all behind schedule, partly because of sanctions. “It is possible. It depends on how quickly they can bring one of the many planned refineries on stream ... they could become self-sufficient in gasoline provided they also cut subsidies,' Varzi said. A controversial policy to slash subsidies which currently mean Iranian motorists have access to greatly discounted fuel prices, would limit any growth in demand, Zadeh said. New U.S. sanctions before Congress could prevent companies that supply gasoline to Iran from doing business with the United States. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #16 I wish our dumbass government would push for us to be able to tell the arabs FOAD and produce our own gas. But no, they want to play with health care, wall streel, and GM instead... |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2010-04-24 22:52 |
| #15 Hmmm, X37B confirmation of concept? |
| Posted by: Flapper Scourge of the Algonquins4926 2010-04-24 15:47 |
| #14 I can't speak about the authorities in Belgium or Germany, but all the mothers of small children that I knew in both countries -- most of whom were not American -- loved to hang out at McDonalds. The little ones happily ran between the little McD playground and the French fries on the table, while the mothers got a chance to talk without worrying that they had to guard against rougher big children. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-04-24 15:43 |
| #13 Of course, TW - the French authorities frown on McDonald's, even if the people seem to enjoy purchasing their products on occasion. |
| Posted by: lotp 2010-04-24 15:04 |
| #12 Rough translation....are you have a few fries short of a happy meal? Ah. I would have had to come to Rantburg to learn that anyway, then -- they don't teach that in the kind of language classes I take. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-04-24 14:45 |
| #11 Rough translation....are you have a few fries short of a happy meal? A few screws loose? Etc. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-04-24 13:56 |
| #10 Darn it, if only we'd stayed in Brussels another year, I would have some idea of what was going on! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-04-24 13:50 |
| #9 I knew it was in you. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2010-04-24 13:08 |
| #8 Est-ce que avoir une araignee au plafond? A rhetorical question obviously. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-04-24 12:58 |
| #7 No French pls, thisn is Rantburg. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2010-04-24 12:35 |
| #6 The Madhi returns in 2012 Well, C'est la guerre ya'all. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-04-24 12:22 |
| #5 A refinery is a dangerous place. Flammable chemicals, high pressures. Lots of potential for accidents. Indeed. A pity we don't have an intelligence agency that can still carry out ops in the middle east. Guess we'll have to let Lev do it. |
| Posted by: lex 2010-04-24 11:57 |
| #4 A refinery is a dangerous place. Flammable chemicals, high pressures. Lots of potential for accidents. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2010-04-24 11:54 |
| #3 The Mahdi returns in 2012, we all either convert or are destroyed and therefore those healthcare costs the Tea Partiers are complaining about never happen. |
| Posted by: lotp 2010-04-24 10:47 |
| #2 2013? I thought Dinnerjacket was planning on 2012 for when the 12th Imam would pop out and show himself? You mean I'm going to have to get a 2013 calendar? And what about health care; it's supposed to kick in in 2014? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-04-24 10:03 |
| #1 Don't they know it takes from 30 years to possibly forever to build a new refinery? That's the time factor here in the US... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2010-04-24 09:44 |