SHANA - A senior refining official says no plans are on the table for increasing gasoline prices at least for the time being.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, CEO of the National Iranian Oil Refining & Distribution Company (NIORDC) Alireza Sadighabadi said petrol consumption in the country is expected to rise at least 9 percent in the current Iranian calendar year which began on March 21, while no plans are on the table for increasing the current prices.

Referring to the production of Euro 4 fuel at the refineries in Arak, Tabriz, Isfahan and Abadan, the official said, "The refineries produce 32 million liters of Euro 4 petrol per day, while the average daily production of them was 28 million liters last year; Euro-4 gasoline production at the Persian Gulf Star Refinery Fars is 11 million liters a day."

He further added that production of Euro-4 gasoil in the refineries of Tehran, Arak, Isfahan and Lavan is 28 million liters per day, adding the average daily production of the item in the calendar year of 1396 was 26 million liters in the refineries.

The NIORDC CEO further said the total gasoline production in the country was 60 million liters in the first three months of previous calendar year which ended on March 20, adding production of the item reached 78 million liters in the last three months of the same year, of which 9 million liters was produced at the Persian Gulf Star Refinery and 9 million other liters were processed at Bandar Abbas, Abadan, Arak, and Tabriz refineries.

Sadeghabadi also touched on the IRR15,000b reduction in NIORDC budget this year, adding 5% of the company's total budget must be spent for renovation of pipelines and infrastructure which was omitted in the current year.