TEHRAN, April 27 (Shana) �- National Iranian Oil Refinery and Distribution Company (NIORDC) and the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum have plans to launch a major refinery project, Persian Gulf Start Refinery, by the end of the current Iranian calendar year which began on March 20.

The first phase of the gas condensate refinery is being prepared and will come online before the year-end. Once operational, the phase will make Iran needless of importing gasoline.

The project is primarily being carried out by private developers and the state-run NIORDC has less than 20% share in the project.

The refinery is owned by Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Investment Company (49%), Oil Industry Pension Fund (33.1%) and NIORDC (17.9%). It is being operated on an EPC basis.

Once fully operational, the refinery would produce 36 ml/d of high-octane gasoline and 14 ml/d of gasoil. Other products include 4 ml/d of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), 3 ml/d of jet fuel and 130 tons a day of sulfur.

After the project's first phase becomes fully operational, other phases will come online each after 4 months.

The refinery will be fed by 360,000 b/d of gas condensate supplied from South Pars gas field. The condensates will be processed into quality products based on the latest European standards.

By SHANA