Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh called for adopting new measures to reduce the country’s total gas consumption.
Zanganeh made the request in separate letters to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting and the governors of all provinces, Iran’s SHANA News Agency reported.
According to the minister, Iran is currently able to produce 660 million cubic meters of gas, which is a record.
“But excessive use of gas has resulted in the delivery network’s instability,” he said.
“When the household’s consumption rises, we have no choice but to limit delivery to industrial units,” Zanganeh added, noting that new measures have to be adopted across the country to avoid gas cuts in cold days.
Zanganeh also asked the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting to promote the culture of using gas efficiently in television and radio programs.
Houshang Taheri, an official with the National Iranian Gas Company, predicted on Nov. 2 that Iranian households’ gas consumption would reach 350 million cubic meters per day in cold days.
He went on to note that the households’ consumption was around 120 million cubic meters per day at the end of September.
“The number of subscribers to the national network has increased by 8 percent compared to the same period previous year,” Taheri said.
Zangneh said on Nov. 21 that some 44 billion cubic meters of gas will be added to the country’s total output in the next Iranian calendar year (to start March 21, 2015).
The minister went on to note that Iran’s gas consumption in the current year is 100 million cubic meters more than previous year.
The Managing Director of National Iranian Gas Company Hamidreza Araqi said on Nov. 24 that Iran gas output will be doubled in the next three years.
“The country’s total gas production will reach 330 billion cubic meters in the Iranian calendar year of 1396 (to start on March 21, 2018),” he said.
“Currently some 600 million cubic meters of gas per day is being delivered to the National Iranian Gas Company,” Zanganeh said.
Iran faced severe gas shortage in previous winter. The country was forced to cut gas supply to industrial units and petrochemical complexes in several occasions.
The Managing Director of Iran’s Natural Gas Storage Company Masoud Samivand said on October 29 that this year, the country is able to pump 20 million cubic meters of gas per day from Sarajeh and Shoorijeh gas storage facilities to the country’s national gas network in cold months.
Samivand said on October 27 that some 2 billion cubic meters of gas have been stored in the country’s storage facilities.
According to BP’s latest yearly report, Iran ‘s dried gas output is about 160 bcm, a little more than domestic consumption level.
Iran exported 7.5 bcm of gas to Turkey and imported 4.5 bcm gas from Turkmenistan in 2012, according to BP’s report.
