The location of Shahid Soleimani Refinery is wrong

According to the exclusive report of Energy Press, it was in April of this year that Jalil Salari, the former CEO of Iran’s National Oil Products Refining and Distribution Company, announced the start of operational operations of the Shahid Soleimani Petrorefinery and said that in 2024, in addition to the continuation and development of negotiations and overseas activities, especially with countries Neighboring, operational operations of Shahid Soleimani Petrorefinery will begin and two important refining projects in Abadan and Shiraz will be put into operation.
Despite the positive publicity of the 13th government in this regard, experts believe that the construction of a new refinery in Bandar Abbas is not reasonable for various reasons.
Mohammad Reza Shakohi, a faculty member of the Department of Economics and Energy Management of Sanat Naft University, explained about the nature of petropetrochemical projects and stated: We must first find out the different types of projects. For example, petrochemical units are economic units, but refinery units are strategic units, which means that their economy is necessarily more important for the government and society than the economic aspect. Accordingly, our approach must be changed and adjusted so that the refineries of our country do not remain only gasoline and diesel producers.
This university professor believes that a suitable location for the Shahid Soleimani Refinery has not been considered: the important discussion these days about the construction of the refinery is that if we try hard and can build a 400,000 barrel refinery or petrorefinery, we have achieved art. Gore Jask pipeline was built in our country and it cost about 3 billion dollars. Such an expense for the construction of a refinery in Jask region had its own economic justification. But on the other hand, in the name of building a refinery in Bandar Abbas region, which currently had three refineries in Bandar Abbas, Mehr and Setare, we considered the establishment of a new refinery called Shahid Soleimani Refinery.
He continued: We insist on building it there, while locating such a construction is wrong, because right now we have three active refineries in that part of the country, and building a fourth refinery in the same place has no justification in terms of land use. While we need to build and develop the beaches of Makran and around Jask. But it is not clear why that area is ignored.
Pointing to the importance of project cost estimation and licensing, Dr. Shekohi emphasized: On the other hand, it is important to pay attention to the fact that the construction of a refinery costs about 12 billion dollars and requires a license. On the other hand, we want to take the same process of traditional refinery construction to establish Shahid Soleimani Refinery. Without its license being known. Especially for a refinery that is supposed to be absolutely fuel-oriented. This is while the world is moving towards electric cars. Something similar to what the world experienced during the Corona era. Fuel was produced but there were no customers. This issue is important because we must be aware that if this Shahid Soleimani refinery is to be opened in 10 years, will there be customers for our fuel? In a world that is moving at a high speed towards renewable energies and rejecting fossil fuels.
This university professor considered the world’s movement towards zero carbon as a very important issue: the future of energy in the world, which is the famous term of the energy transition period that moves towards carbon zero, should be kept in mind at the moment.
Dr. Shekohi saw the construction of the Shahid Soleimani Refinery in Bandar Abbas as a contradiction with passive defense strategies: it is also said that the Isfahan Oil Refining Company is also monitoring the construction of a refinery in Bandar Abbas. This is also the fifth refinery that we should be aware of. In terms of passive defense approach, all refineries should not be concentrated in one region of the country. These should be spread in the country so that the benefits reach all people.