Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi said on Saturday that Iran had now stopped importing petrol, a commodity targeted by world powers in new sanctions against Tehran's controversial nuclear drive. "No purchase has been made of petrol since last month," Mirkazemi was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying.
It reported him as saying Iran's daily petrol production had reached 66.5 million litres per day, more than the national requirement of 64 million litres. On September 7, Mirkazemi said that Iran had now reached "self-sufficiency" in petrol production, adding that previously it produced 44 million litres a day and imported 20 million litres in order to meet domestic need.