Expanding gas grid and supplying industrial and household sectors with natural gas in the underprivileged Sistan-Baluchestan Province top the National Iranian Gas Company's priorities, managing director of Sistan-Baluchestan Gas Company said.
"Operations to extend Zahedan's gas network by 350 kilometers are being undertaken," Mohammad Hassan Tehrani was also quoted as saying by Shana, the Oil Ministry's news agency.
According to the official, Zahedan Power Plant has been provided with natural gas as feedstock, which has curbed liquid fuel consumption by as much as 20 million liters per annum.
"Local workforces are being trained to implement gas development projects in the province in two phases," Tehrani said, adding that phase one entails training 535 staff to carry out maintenance activities in gas pressure reducing stations as well as reading meters and detecting network defects.
The official noted that in the second phase, skilled workforce will deal with health, safety and environment issues as well as technical inspections and mapping projects.
Reportedly, more than 4,000 subscribers have been added to the natural gas grid in Zahedan since 2017 and 32 more villages will join the network in the near future.
--- Zabol Pipeline
Referring to the Zabol gas pipeline, Saeed Momeni, NIGC's director for gas supply, noted that it will be an extension of Iran Gas Trunkline 7 that has already been extended from Asalouyeh in Bushehr Province to Zahedan, pumping natural gas from the giant South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf.
According to the official, as soon as the venture is fully launched in Zabol and Zahedan, the grid will extend toward Khash.
Commenting on the Zabol-Khash project, Momeni said the design of Zabol and Khash gas pipelines, both in Sistan-Baluchestan Province, has been completed and the pipe-laying work, worth $450 million, will commence by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2019).
Pointing to an 80-km pipeline that has already been laid in Zabol, the official said the city requires a 600-km network that is a long-term project and by the time it is completed, the city will be provided with compressed natural gas.
"Iranshahr was the first city in the province connected to the country's natural gas grid," he said, adding that 16,132 subscribers in Sistan-Baluchestan have been added to the network since March 201, of whom 350 reside in rural areas.
