Iran, which aims to counter U.S. sanctions by halting gasoline imports and supply its own needs, has started exporting the fuel, the Oil Ministry said.

“Iran has exported its first load of gasoline,” Ali Asghar Arshi, the National Iranian Oil Co.’s director of international affairs, said on the Oil Ministry’s news website, Shana. He didn’t give the shipment’s date or destination.

“Thanks to the production of gasoline in some of its petrochemical complexes, Iran has become self-sufficient and will soon export one more gasoline load,” Arshi said.

Iran, the second-largest oil producer in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia, previously relied on imports for as much as 40 percent of its gasoline as it lacked the refining capacity to meet its consumption.

The Persian Gulf state is under a fourth round of United Nations sanctions because it refuses to curtail its nuclear program, which the U.S. and European Union say is a shield for weapons development. The U.S. tightened sanctions on July 1 to also punish foreign suppliers of gasoline to Iran.

Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said on Sept. 23 that his country would soon export two cargoes of gasoline. Iran said in June that it could begin exporting gasoline as early as next year after upgrading its refineries.

Self-Sufficiency

Daily output of the motor fuel increased to 66 million liters, or 415,000 barrels, from 44 million liters, after the start of a self-sufficiency plan, Oil Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi said on Sept. 7. Iran won’t have to rely on imports anymore, he said at the time.

Iran is currently producing gasoline from five of its petrochemical units in response to U.S. sanctions, Ali-Mohammad Bosaghzadeh, director for production control at the National Petrochemical Co., said this week.

“Iran has substantial experience and extensive ties in the international market and has successfully overcome harder sanctions than those related to fuel,” Arshi said. “The passing of gasoline sanctions is not an issue that can harm Iran or that can’t be solved.”