SHANA - A senior Iranian petroleum refining official said the country�s euro-4 and 5 gasoline output from Bandar Abbas Gas Condensate Refinery will exceed 24 million liters per day by the end of the current calendar year to late March.

The country just launched the distillation unit of phase II of the facility�aka Persian Gulf Star Refinery, which will add 12 million liters per day to the country�s current euro-5 petrol production by the end of the current Iranian calendar year to March 20.

Once the unit comes online Iran�s euro-4 and 5 gasoline output will reach 24 million liters per day, deputy petroleum minister for petroleum products� refining and distribution affairs Alireza Sadiqabadi said.

Addressing a ceremony to launch the distillation unit of the refinery�s second phase in the southern province of Hormuzgan, the official said the plant is being constructed for production of 36 million liters per day of euro-5 petrol which is unparalleled in the world.

Iran produced 60ml/d of petrol last year this time which has now reached 78 ml/d, he said, expressing optimism that the third phase of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery comes online as soon as possible.

He further said, �The environmental achievements of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery project are very important and at the same time an honor for the Islamic Republic of Iran.�

Sadiqabadi, who is also the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Products Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC), announced completion of the isomerization unit of Bandar Abbas refinery by the end of this calendar year, adding that the unit will increase the quality of its 12-million-liter petrol output which will be produced with octane content of around 92."

He said with the launch of the refinery's hydrogen treatment unit next year, 12 million liters of euro-4 gasoil will be produced at the refinery.

According to Sadiqabadi, considering the two refineries of Bandar Abbas and Persian Gulf Star, Hormozgan province now accounts for 40 percent of the country's gasoline output.