FNA - Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Sunday that the country is now enjoying surplus in gasoline production and will soon start exporting the precious fuel after registering reliable amounts in inventories.

“Gasoline exports have started in small quantities, but we are currently trying to store the fuel and boost our inventories… We will put gasoline exports high on our agenda in the next (local calendar) year,” Zanganeh said today.

He did not provide further details about the current exports and the customers of Iranian gasoline.

Iran became self-sufficient in gasoline production back in February after the inauguration of the third phase of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery (PGSR) in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas.

On February 18, it was announced that the Persian Gulf Star Refinery (PGSR) in Southern Iran was then producing 103 million liters of high-quality gasoline per day with its 3 phases in full swing.

“Making the country needless to import gasoline, the three-phase mega project will annually create over $800 million added value in the oil and gas industries,” Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) Alireza Sadeqabadi said on Monday.

He noted that the PGSR, located in the port city of Bandar Abbas in Iran’s Southern province of Hormuzgan, aims to enable the country export fuel and other high-value products.

With full implementation of PGSR, the official said, the country’s gasoline output has now reached 103 million liters per day, while Iranian’s burn an average of 87 million liters per day of the strategic fuel.

“This can turn the country into a potential exporter of the fuel,” he said.

He noted that with the PGSR going on full swing, domestic gasoline production in compliance with Euro-5 standards will rise to 45 million liters per day.

The third phase of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery, known as the world’s largest gas condensate refinery, was launched Monday in the presence of President Hassan Rouhani and Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh.

The senior official said the construction of the fourth phase of the mega project has started and is expected to be completed in two years.

Each of the four phases is designed to produce 12 million liters per day of high-octane gasoline, 4.5 ml/d of Euro-4 diesel, 1ml/d of kerosene and 3 million liters of LPG a day.

Each phase uses about 120,000 barrels per day of gas condensate supplied from the South Pars Gas Field. When the fourth phase is up and running the refinery will consume 500,000 bpd of fuel.

According to Zanganeh, Iran's gasoline production capacity in 2014 was 52 ml/d. while the output has reached 105 ml/d over the course of five years.

Persian Gulf Star Refinery is the world’s largest gas condensate refinery and the first one in the Middle East. Over 70 percent of the equipment needed for building the facility was supplied by domestic manufacturers and almost all the installation and implementation projects were carried out by Iranian forces.