Smuggled Iran fuel fetches UAE $20b per year
The Advisor to President and Secretary of the Supreme Council of Free and Special Economic Zones says the UAE earns some $20b annually for bunker fuel and in fact offering services to the ships and vessels in the Persian Gulf which move towards Fujairah Port and unfortunately major part of the bunk fuel of the UAE is provided by the ships which smuggle fuel from Iran to Fujairah.
Speaking to ILNA news agency, Saeed Mohammad pointed to the inauguration of the first phase of Qeshm super heavy oil refiner by President Seyed Ebrahim Raisi and said this refinery has been built by the private sector and its first phase has been completed.
He added that the capacity of the first phase is 35,000 barrels of super heavy oil that the oil is provided through the Soroush and Nowruz fields and some strategic products like bitumen are provided there. He added that the refinery can produce one million tons of bitumen annually as well as 6.5m tons of light oil.
He added that the second phase of the refinery with capacity of 35,000 barrels has progressed 20% physically and with finance of the private sector, this phase will be completed and come on stream.
He then pointed to his visit to the bunkering facilities of Qeshm Island and said the IAE earns $20b annually through bunkering and offering services and fuel supply to vessels that major part of its fuel is smuggled via Iran and moing towards Fujairah while Iran should revive its competition advantage in the region for bunker fuel.
He added that in order to attract vessels for refueling in Iranian ports like in Qashm, the ports need to boost its infrastructures and to provide recreational facilities for the crew of the vessels and this will lead to considerable forex earning for the island and its native citizens. He added the preparations have started for the launch of bunker fuel on Qeshm Island.
On the construction of the national Persian Gulf bridge project on Qeshm Island, Mohammad said that the Persian Gulf bridge will connect Bandar Abbas Port to Qeshm Island, adding that this is a long dream of the public in those areas and the council has planned to start and complete the bridge in 2.5 years and it will be built with a budget around 280m euros.
The Iranian official reiterated that in order to reduce its financial burden on the government, there has been an agreement with the contractor to be paid some part of its money through barter of oil and for this reason the council has asked the government to include barter of oil for 100m euros in next year budget which has been approved.
Mohammad noted that some other part of the budget will be provided via sales of luxurious villas of the Presidency and soon those villas will be rented to earn money for pre-payment for the start of the project.
He also vowed that soon the problem of water supply to the villages of Qeshm will be resolved through the creation of water desalination systems which will be carried out by the private sector.
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