Iran has increased its gasoline output by more than 7% in the past two and a half months to respond to a growing demand that has forced the country to resume imports after more than a decade of self-sufficiency.

The National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) said on Tuesday that it had implemented a rapid-action plan to increase gasoline production in four refineries in the country.

It said gasoline output had increased by some 8.5 million liters per day as a result of the plan that was implemented in the 76 days to November 5.

The NIORDC said its latest estimates suggest that gasoline output in the country’s largest gas refinery, located in Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf coast, had increased by 4 million liters per day to 44 million liters per day.

It said that refineries in Tehran and Isfahan had also increased their daily gasoline production by 2 million liters per day, adding that output in Tabriz refinery had also been raised by 0.5 million liters per day over the same period.

The figures come a day after the Iranian oil ministry’s fuel department the NIOPDC said that gasoline consumption in the country had increased by 7.4% year on year in April-November to reach an average of 124.5 million liters per day.

It said that Iran had imported an average of 9 million liters per day of gasoline in the calendar month to late September.

The rising demand for fuels has forced Iran to resume imports more than a decade after the country celebrated self-sufficiency in the production of gasoline.

Estimates suggest the country had a daily gasoline output of 110 million liters before the NIORDC introduced its rapid-action plan to increase production.

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