As of January 1999, Iran had nine operational refineries with a combined capacity of 1.45 million bbl/d. In order to meet burgeoning domestic demand for middle and light distillates, Iran has imported refined products since 1982. While these product imports reached more than 150,000 bbl/d in 1994, they have since subsided due to debottlenecking work at the Isfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz, and Lavan refineries during the past several years. In late 1996, Iran was importing about 50,000 bbl/d of light products, while at the same time, exporting fuel oil and other heavy products.

The 220,400-bbl/d Bandar Abbas refinery, located near the Strait of Hormuz, is being supplied mainly with heavy crude from Kharg Island and with smaller amounts of condensate from the nearby Sarkhoon field. When full production is achieved, the refinery will produce 7,100 bbl/d of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), 46,100 bbl/d of gasoline, 36,200 bbl/d of kerosene and jet fuel, 69,500 bbl/d of gas oil, 66,900 bbl/d of fuel oil, 5,000 bbl/d of asphalt and 124 tons per day of sulfur.

Iran optimistically hopes to boost its refining capacity to almost 2 million bbl/d by 1999. Two planned grassroots refineries include a 225,000-bbl/d plant at Shah Bahar and a 120,000-bbl/d unit on Qeshm Island. The $3-billion Shah Bahar refinery project was approved by the government in late 1994 and would be built by private investors. The $1.8-billion Qeshm Island refinery project is to be built by Swiss company Super Petroleum. Belgian-based Unit International is planning to build Iran's first privately-owned oil refinery. The 100,000 bbl/d plant will refine crude oil from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. The refined products will be purchased by the Iranian government.

NIOC has proposed a series of downstream investments in India, including two new oil refineries in southern India, port facilities for the movement of petroleum products and a 350-MW power project to support the refineries. NIOC already holds a 16% stake in Madras Refinery Ltd., which has three different units with a total capacity of around 6.4 million tons a year. Pakistan has revived a $1.1 billion refinery project with Iran that had been postponed since 1991. The 6 million tons per year (t/y) plant will be built in Hub, Baluchistan. In March 1998, the Iranian construction minister announced that an Iranian company was considering building an oil refinery in Bangladesh. Iran also has discussed possible cooperation on refinery ventures with the Philippines.

Oil		Natural Gas
Oil...	Production...	Natural gas...
Onshore developments...	offshore developments...	New field developments projects...
Terminals...	Refining...	Natural gas exports...