Speaking to reporters in Mazandaran Province, he said Iran would start exporting its gasoline to neighboring countries before the end of the current calendar year, Fars News Agency reported.
He added that Iran is currently producing all the gasoline it needs and in addition, it is exporting many other petroleum products.
The minister also expounded on Iran's oil exploration activities in the Caspian Sea, saying that work on the first Caspian exploration block, which is a gas field, has been finished and has revealed high reserves in the field.
On April 5, the oil minister told reporters that Western sanctions on the country’s oil sector had had no impact on worldwide demand for Iranian crude.
Qasemi also noted that Iran is OPEC’s second biggest oil exporter and a major exporter of petroleum products to Iraq and Afghanistan, and soon to Pakistan.
Since the beginning of 2012, the US and the European Union have imposed new sanctions on Iran aimed at penalizing other countries for importing Iranian crude.
Iran has responded to EU oil sanctions by cutting oil sales to some European states.
press tv/281
Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi says the country will be exporting domestically produced gasoline before the end of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21, 2012).
News ID 181677
