Vacancy for adding liquefied natural gas to the fuel basket in budget bill 1401 / LPG loss in pipelines continues

According to the economic correspondent of Fars News Agency, the enemy’s cyber attack on Iran’s fuel system and disruption of the supply of free and quota gasoline throughout the country, has sounded a serious alarm for the government that if it ignores the diversification of the fuel basket and the continuation of the single basket Fuel and gasoline monopoly of the country’s transportation sector will always be exposed to serious threats.

One way to diversify your portfolio is to add LPG to your portfolio. The official import of autogas, in addition to ensuring the country’s energy security in the transportation sector, increases the government’s foreign exchange earnings by increasing the equivalent of gasoline and diesel and reducing environmental pollution.

* Conflict of interests of the Ministry of Oil hinders the development of autogas in the twelfth government

Last year, during the review of the 1400 budget bill in Annex 2, Note 1 of a single article, the Islamic Consultative Assembly formally added LPG to the fuel basket. According to this legal clause, the Ministries of Oil and Interior are obliged to build stations and infrastructure for the legal use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the transport fleet, with priority given to the public fleet and cargo with the help of the private and public sectors, up to a total of 2 million tons. Provide years. The price of each kilogram of liquefied natural gas delivered to the distribution companies is equal to two thirds of the price of one liter of quota gasoline.

But despite the twelfth government’s legal obligation to draft and approve the bylaws of this section of the law two months after the promulgation of the 1400 budget law, the government’s Ministry of Oil did not take any action to add LPG to the fuel basket. According to experts, the conflict of interest of the Ministry of Oil has been the main reason for opposition to the development of autogas.

Mustafa Saeedi, oil and gas expert in this regard Says“The benefit that LPG exports have for the Ministry of Oil is that all its revenue goes to the Ministry of Oil, but if LPG is replaced with gasoline, this advantage is lost in gasoline exports, and the Ministry of Oil’s share of gasoline export revenue is only 14.5 percent. As a result, the Ministry of Oil loses money if we consume LPG domestically and export gasoline. It is true that the government is making a profit, but the Ministry of Oil is making a loss. “As a result, the opposition of the Ministry of Oil is due to a conflict of interest with the government in this matter.”

* The 13th government Ministry of Oil agrees to officially add LPG to the fuel basket

With the inauguration of the 13th government, however, the Ministry of Petroleum’s approach to the development of autogas has changed from national to national interests, and the CEO of the National Company for Refining and Distribution of Petroleum Products said in an interview that he agrees with the development of autogas in cities near the refinery. 1400 and is limited.

Jalil Salari, CEO of the National Company for Refining and Distribution of Petroleum Products, also pointed out the reasons for the delay in implementing this law. explained“Unfortunately, despite the law passed by the parliament, no action was taken in the previous government to develop autogas in the country. We are currently reviewing law enforcement. “The reason for the delay in the implementation of this decree was the negligence of the previous government.

Meanwhile, although the Ministry of Petroleum of the 13th government quickly drafted the by-law on autogas and sent it to the cabinet, this by-law has apparently not yet been reviewed and approved.

“The executive by-law of this section of the budget law has been drafted by the Ministry of Oil since May and given to the government, whenever this by-law is approved by the cabinet,” said Keramat Visakrami, CEO of the National Petroleum Products Distribution Company. “The receipt of the Ministry of Oil is obliged to implement it.”

* Autogas development, a self-financing scheme

According to Budget Law 1400, the Autogas project was a self-sustaining project that, due to the LPG price reform in the country, provided the budget for the construction of the required stations in the first year, ie the return on investment of this project (regardless of foreign exchange earnings for gasoline and diesel exports). defined.

Malik Shariati, a member of the Energy Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, explains: “Currently, 2 million tons of LPG are consumed annually in the country. It will be about 460 billion tomans. “If the price of LPG is corrected to 1,000 tomans per kilogram, the company’s revenue will be 2,000 billion tomans and the government’s revenue will increase by approximately 1.5,000 billion tomans.”

He continued: “According to the parliament’s decision, one thousand billion tomans of the revenues from the LPG price reform will be spent on setting up stations and standardizing cars. Incidentally, you do not need a separate station to use LPG, but you can also sell LPG at the same gas station. LPG is not like CNG, which necessarily needs a separate place. “The sensitivity of CNG is very high because the pressure of CNG gas is much higher than LPG.”

Shariati said“For the year 1400, a total of about 100 new LPG stations can be established, each distributing 40 tons of LPG per day, and a total of 1.5 million tons of LPG can be distributed annually through these stations. The construction cost of each station is 9 billion tomans. As a result, the cost of constructing 100 stations will be less than one thousand billion tomans. “That means you can build LPG stations with the proceeds from LPG price correction.”

Table 1 shows the calculations for the cost of constructing each LPG station.

Table 1- Cost of construction of an autogas station

* LPG loss continues in pipelines!

Overall, the twelfth government’s conflict of interest and opposition to the development of autogas led to the formal addition of LPG to the country’s fuel basket, despite the requirement of the 1400 budget law. Considering the benefits of using LPG in cars, the 13th government and the Islamic Consultative Assembly are expected to approve the executive regulation of Autogas in the cabinet as soon as possible and re-add the legal clause related to adding LPG in budget bill 1401 to diversify the country’s fuel basket. Provide.

According to forecasts, if the current trend of gasoline consumption continues, the country will soon face a fuel shortage crisis, and adding LPG to the fuel basket along with CNG can eliminate the risk of a crisis.

According to annual statistics, the burning of at least 3 million tons of LPG did not end only in 1998 and 1999, and this year, the trend of LPG loss in pipelines has continued. This waste of national resources occurs while the consumption of LPG can be used to export gasoline and diesel at a higher price and increase government foreign exchange earnings.

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