District 7 of Iran’s gas transmission operations, which encompasses eight central and western provinces, has provided natural gas for 94% of the region's cities, the director of the plan said.
According to Amin Ebadi, Iranian Gas Transmission Company, has divided the country into 10 districts, of which District 7 includes Hamedan, Markazi, Lorestan, Ilam, Kermanshah, Kurdestan, Qazvin and Zanjan provinces, ISNA reported.
"About 13% of Iran’s gas output are delivered to the provinces, supplying 145 cities of the district’s 155 cities with the fuel," he said.
Over 1,110 cities, 720 villages and 81 power plants have already been connected to the grid and plans are underway to provide 21,000 more industrial units with gas by the end of the current fiscal year (March 20, 2019).
Ebadi noted that of the 26,500 kilometers of gas pipelines nationwide, 4,300 km are laid in District 7, adding that there are 50 gas pipeline operation centers in the country, of which eight are in this region.
Plans call for raising the district’s gas transmission so that it could have the fastest growth rate in the next four to five years.
“One-third of Iran’s gas exports is made through District 7,” Ebadi said.
Ilam, Kermanshah and Kurdestan provinces have borders with the western neighbor Iraq.
Iran is currently exporting about 12 million cubic meters of gas per day to Iraq from Naftshahr region in Kermanshah Province through a pipeline diverging from the Sixth Iran Gas Trunkline.
Hamidreza Araqi, managing director of state-run National Iranian Gas Company, told Radio Eghtesad that Iran's natural gas export to Iraq is set to reach 50 million cubic meters per day in the next fiscal year.
“As soon as Iraq signals its readiness, Iran will start gas supply to Basra and Baghdad each by up to 25 mcm/d," he said.
Announcing that operations for detecting leakage are implemented every year, Ebadi said that since March 21, close to 1,000 km of pipelines have undergone the operations in District 7.
“Less than 3% of the pipelines in the district are dilapidated, which will undergo repairs," he said.
According to Ebadi, Markazi Province receives the most natural gas from among the eight provinces, while Hamedan has registered a 5% rise in consumption in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
Iran produces about 850 mcm/d of gas.
