Iran's refinery capacity will rise by 60,000 barrels a day within the first half of the current Iranian year, the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported a high-ranking oil official as saying.
Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh, deputy oil minister and president of National Iranian Oil Refining & Distribution Co., said refinery capacity at Iran's Bandar Abbas oil refinery, in southern Iran, will rise to 320,000 barrels a day from 260,000 barrels a day, the report said.
The current Iranian year ends March 20. The senior oil official said the refinery will begin refining the additional oil between late August and late September, the report said.
According to industry experts, Iran, which is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' second largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia, needs to invest around $20 billion in refining capacity to achieve its aim of meeting domestic energy demands and increasing export capacity.