Iran will soon introduce an energy plan aiming at lowering the rate of gasoline imports to the country, the country's oil ministry web site, Shana, reported Monday.
"The plan will cut, to the lowest rate, the need to import gasoline from abroad," Shana quoted the country's oil minister, Gholamhossein Nozari, as saying.
"At present, Bandar-Abbas Refinery's diesel, kiln oil and gasoline production capacity is increasing and the work of the Esfahan Refinery expansion has also been expedited," Nozari was quoted as saying by Shana.
Shana also reported Nozari as saying that there "would not be any problems over gas supplies to different parts of the country," as a domestic gas network is being developed.
Even though Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil producer, its ability to convert its own crude into usable refined products, such as gasoline and diesel, remains limited.
According to experts, the Islamic Republic buys about 40% of its gasoline overseas - mainly from suppliers in Europe, India and Venezuela.