Investigating the Competitiveness of the Refinery Industry Using the Internal Resource Cost Index (Case Study of Tabriz Refinery)

Presence in world trade is one of the concerns of any country because it provides the opportunity for economic growth and development. Export of refineries products can have a positive ef     fect on the process of Iranian economic growth and development. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the comparative advantage in the production of refinery products. The purpose of this article is to measure the price competitiveness of Tabriz Refinery in International trade of refinery products. For this purpose, the Internal Resource Cost Index (DRC) was used along with the elasticity of this index to global price changes. According to the data of  1396 AH, it was determined that this company, while having a comparative advantage in gas oil, fuel oil, Kerosene, LPG, bitumen, slops wax, ethane, naphtha, vacuum bottom, lobcat, solvent  402 and jet fuel but has no comparative advantage in production and export of butane and sulfur. considering the real exchange rate, results also showed that the DRC index is price elastic  for  products such as gas oil  and fuel oil, but is inelastic to gasoline Price decrease.Based on the obtained results, it is suggested that due to the lack of sulfur and butane advantages, these products should be removed from the production process and for more profitability,  moving towards the development of a new generation of refineries (Petro Refineries) is required.