Iran has launched the third phase of a new refinery, making the country self-sufficient in gasoline production, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh said on Monday. At the opening ceremony of the third phase of the Bandar Abbas Gas Condensate Refinery, also called the Persian Gulf Star Refinery, the minister said that Iran’s gasoline production had more than doubled since 2013. Despite holding large crude oil reserves, the Islamic Republic have been importing gasoline for its domestic needs for years, because under the previous Western sanctions, it couldn’t buy spare parts for refinery equipment and maintenance, and because of its low gasoline production capacity. Last year, before the U.S. withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal imposing new sanctions on Iran, the Islamic Republic was making progress in cutting its gasoline imports and had set gasoline self-sufficiency as a high priority. Most of Iran’s imports came from refiners in India, Southeast […]