Replying Bloomberg questions by phone from Tehran, Ghanimifard said: “If for any reason any refinery or trader would stop working with us, we can refer to other refineries and traders and receive the amount of gasoline needed.”
He further said: “These kinds of unilateral sanctions are not new to us. For the past 30 years such sanctions have been imposed by the U.S. and everyone knows they could not be workable.”
Refineries around the world are running below capacity and have to pay fixed and some variable costs regardless of how much of their capacity is being used, Ghanimifard said. “If we approached these refineries and asked them to receive crude oil in exchange for gasoline, for sure their response would be positive,” he said.
Gasoline Stockpiles
Iran “has piled more gasoline in its stocks” since it sought to control fuel consumption, Ghanimifard said. Gasoline reserves were the highest in 15 years, Farid Ameri, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Co., said in October.
Ghanimifard said that a halt in exports to Iran would force some refineries or traders to sell in other markets and push prices down. “The excess of supply in those markets will spill over to markets that need to receive gasoline, including Iran.”
On Thursday, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed legislation to expand sanctions on foreign companies that invest in Iran’s energy sector. The measure requires sanctions against foreign companies that sell refined petroleum to Iran or help develop its refining capacity. The bill needs to be reconciled with similar legislation passed by the U.S. House in December.
Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, has to import at least a third of its fuel because it lacks refining capacity. It introduced gasoline rationing in 2007 to cut imports and domestic consumption.