Producing gasoline from methanol is not profitable

According to Energy Press, Hossein Alimurad, Director of Planning and Development of the National Petrochemical Industries Company, said: “To develop the value chain in 4 axes, which are the axes of our value chain, including propylene, almatica, ethylene, etc., we have to reach a capacity of 131 million tons by the end of the seventh plan, and our focus is only on the downstream.” Regarding the conversion of methanol to gasoline, he explained: “Economy defines everything, and if it is an economic project, all investors will go towards it. Converting methanol to gasoline is not economically viable or is hardly profitable.” Referring to the uneconomical nature of producing gasoline from methanol, this official considered government discounts as a solution for investing in this sector and added: “Due to the uneconomical nature of producing gasoline from methanol, a way has been considered to advance it. The government has approved a regulation by providing facilities such as discounts and has made it available to industrialists, so that the part of methanol that is made available to units converted to gasoline can benefit from the discount on upstream gas feed.”