The Feasibility Study of Constructing Domestic Oil Refineries as a Policy Option to Replace Gasoline Import

In the light of gasoline shortage in the county, resorting to import or erection of new refinery are the possible options available. This paper aims to investigate how to meet the gasoline needs of the country by domestically refining the heavy crude oil, extracted from newly developed oil fields such as Soroush and Norouz. Refiningcapacity of these new proposed installations is expected to be around 055thousand barrels per day and heavy crude oil intake of these refineries is assumed to come from Norouz oil fields. It is worth mentioning that this study has taken care of environmental considerations while deciding on the appropriate location for the erection of these refineries as well as how to meet the crude oil intake and water required by these new refineries. The model used in this study is simply a new model experimentally applied in this case study. So far, this model has not been used in the feasibility study of oil refining activities in Iran. In regard to feasibility study of oil refineries, various approaches are reviewed in this paper and the result are drawn out.The findings of this paper indicate that erection of heavy crude oil refinery, based on crude oil priced below 05dollars per barrel, is economically feasible. Besides, with lowering oil prices, its feasibility is further validated.