CEO of the National Iranian Oil Refining & Distribution Company (NIORDC) Alireza Sadighabadi said on Saturday that the project would become operational within a month.

The project's first phase is now producing 12 million liters per day of Euro-5 petrol which is expected to double once the second phase of the project comes fully online.

Iran has long sought to wean its energy sector off petrol imports and the Persian Gulf Star Gas Condensate Refinery is a major measure taken by the country to realize its long-sought goal to become self-sufficient in petrol production.

Persian Gulf Star Refinery, also known as Bandar Abbas Gas Condensate Refinery, is a new gas condensate refinery being developed near Bandar Abbas, Iran.

It will have a processing capacity of roughly 360,000 barrels of gas condensate a day upon becoming fully operational in 2018.

The facility is owned by Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Investment Company (49%), Oil Industry Pension Fund (33.1%) and National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) (17.9%).

The project is estimated to be completed at a cost of approximately $3.4bn.

Phase one of the refinery was officially inaugurated in April 2017, while the first shipment of gasoline was delivered for distribution in June 2017. The remaining two phases are scheduled to be commissioned by March 2018.

The refinery will produce high-quality gasoline in order to make Iran self-sufficient in gasoline production.

It will also enable the nation to export gasoline and other strategic petroleum items.