Close to 240 billion cubic meters of natural gas -- average 655 million cubic meters/day -- was supplied via the national gas grid in the last fiscal that ended in March, head of the National Iranian Gas Transmission Company said.
"A record 762 mcm of gas was transferred domestically on Dec. 14, 2018, topping the previous high of 746 mcm on February 8, 2017," Saeed Tavakoli was quoted as saying by Shana in a news briefing on Monday.
Expanding the gas pipeline network by at least 600 kilometers is a priority for NIGTC in the current year.
The length of Iran's gas pipelines was 36,000 km in 2016 and expanded by 1,000 km one year later.
Giving a breakdown on the ventures, Tavakoli said his company completed the Kahnouj-Jiroft transmission pipeline in Kerman Province and the Nehbandan-Sarbisheh pipeline in South Khorasan Province.
NIGTC also built the pipeline to connect South Pars Gasfield onshore refineries in Asalouyeh to the ninth Iran Gas Trunkline (IGAT-9).
The 56-inch-diameter IGAT-9 stretching over 1,863 km starts from Asalouyeh crosses Ahvaz and Dehgolan and reaches Bazargan district in northwest West Azarbaijan Province via 17 compressor stations.
IGAT is a series of nine large diameter pipelines supplying gas from refineries in the south (Khuzestan and Bushehr provinces) to regions across the country.
“By 2025, the length of Iran’s gas pipelines should increase by another 9,000 km and the annual gas supply capacity is projected to reach 400 bcm from 240 bcm at present,” Tavakkoli added.
The volume of gas leakage in pipelines is estimated at 13 mcm/d, or less than 2.5%.
Iran’s daily gas production capacity is 840 mcm. Output from South Pars Gas field off the Persian Gulf account for over two-thirds -- 610 mcm/d -- of the total domestic demand.
