Piped gas was supplied to 2,913 rural areas and 23 cities in the last Persian calendar year (March 2020-2021), managing director of National Iranian Gas Company said.
Almost 95% of the urban and rural population is now linked to the gas grid, Hassan Montazer Torbati was reported as saying by the Oil Ministry news agency Shana.
“Gas supply projects to 4,000 villages is underway and are expected to be come on line next March,” he added.
Currently, some 36,000 villages comprising 85% of the rural areas have access to natural gas to which another 6,000 will be added within a year. Expansion of the national gas grid has been made possible due to the increase in gas production.
Domestic gas output has surpassed 1 billion cubic meters a day, a major part of which comes from the giant South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf.
Data indicate 18,000 villages were connected to the national gas network since 2014. The NIGC said it has invested over $17 billion in natural gas infrastructure since 2013.
“The big part [of the funds] went to complete the major South Pars Gas Field phases and the Iran Gas Trunkline to expedite gas delivery to remote rural areas, power plants and industries,” Montazer Torbati said.
He said expanding the gas network to small towns and villages in faraway areas in the southern region, laying gas pipelines and setting up compressor stations are NIGC priorities.
There are an estimated 10,000 rural districts (mostly in the underdeveloped Sistan-Baluchestan) that still lack piped gas.
