Iran's Storage Capacity Raised To 3m Barrels In Bahregan Region

Tehran, June 12, IRNA – Executive Head of Naval and Overland Facilities’ Projects in Bahregan oil region Hamid-Reza Karimi said here Monday there are plans for raising crude storage in this region up to three million barrels. He noted that Bahregan can become one of the major places for the export of Iran’s crude abroad through the Persian Gulf. “The construction of storage with the capacity of one million barrel in Bahregan region was completed last month and it is scheduled that the Iranian constructors build and complete two other storages with the capacities of five hundred thousand barrel till the end of this summer.” The official added that there is also a plan to build another storage with the capacity of one million till early in the next year in the Iranian calendar. Karimi underlined that by the manufacture of a new single-point mooring (SPM) as well as a new pumping station beside the construction of storage facilities to the capacity of 3 billion barrel, the export of Bahregan and Azadegan regions’ oil through Persian Gulf seashores and by the giant oil tankers lingered there, will become possible. The Bahregan oil district is a forerunner in Iran's maritime oil industry and the renovations that have been carried out in the site have suitably equipped it for another 50 years of operations. The Bahregan offshore oil district first started producing oil in the mid 1950s and currently produces 235 thousand barrels of oil per day. On March 19, Managing director of Iranian Oil Terminals Company (IOTC) Pirouz Mousavi said the country had re-commissioned a new storage facility at the Kharg Island oil terminal, which can hold as much as one million barrels of crude, to reduce the impact of the European Union sanctions on oil sector. Mousavi had earlier announced that Iran is capable of storing crude oil in the Persian Gulf for a period of 10-12 days and the new storage facilities would raise the figure to 30-40 days. International experts believe that increasing oil storage capacity will improve Iran's position in marketing and selling crude oil. Iran started building its first private oil terminal, which is capable of holding 8 million barrels of oil, in the Genaveh port city, Bushehr province in January./end