NIOC’s Low-Quality Fuel Worsening Air Pollution in Iran

Refining companies should be obliged to enhance the quality of their substandard products, namely gasoline, diesel and mazut, the head of the Board of Directors at the Iranian Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters Union (OPEX) said.

“The main products of the National Iranian Oil Company do not comply with international standards as they contain a huge volume of toxic sulfur compounds that have made air pollution in large cities worse,” ILNA also quoted Hamid Hosseini as saying.

NIOC’s mazut, which is delivered to power plants as an alternative feedstock to generate electricity, contains as much as 35,000 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur, while the standard ppm should not exceed 500 ppm, he added.

“Nowhere in the world such low-quality fuel is allowed to be burnt,” he said, adding that the substandard mazut cannot be used even in ships as fuel. - Financial Tribune