Iran builds first heavy oil refinery in Qeshm Island, Shana says

Bloomberg: Iran is building its first refinery able to process so-called heavy crude in the southern Qeshm Island, the Oil Ministry said, citing an official at the Research Institute of the Petroleum Industry.

Bloomberg

By Ladane Nasseri

Iran is building its first refinery able to process so-called heavy crude in the southern Qeshm Island, the Oil Ministry said, citing an official at the Research Institute of the Petroleum Industry.

The refinery, with capacity to produce as much as 30,000 barrels a day of light oil products, will be operational by early 2013, Mansour Bazmi, the head of refinery research at the agency, said in a report on the ministry’s news website, Shana.

Crude will come from Iran’s Soroush and Norooz fields, Bazmi said, without giving details on its content. The density of Iranian crude from fields such as Soroush and Norooz is higher than other grades, making the oil more difficult to refine and the grades are only shipped to Asia and the Mediterranean. Iran would be able to sell refined products in Asian and European markets, Bazmi said.

Iran, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ second-largest oil producer, started building the Qeshm refinery about six months ago, Shana said.