The National Iranian Gas Company supplies natural gas to over 95% of the country's population, the managing director of NIGC said.
“So far, about 35,000 villages and 1,173 cities have been linked to the gas grid. Currently, 98.4% of the urban population, 84.6% of the rural population and 95.1% of the total population of the country have access to natural gas,” Hassan Montazer-Torbati was also quoted as saying by ISNA.
“Natural gas was supplied to only a couple of cities and villages 40 years ago. However, the gas transmission network has increased from 1,400 km at that time to 37,500 km now. Gas transmission capacity has exceeded 850 million cubic meters per day from 40 mcm a day then,” he added.
A project to install 700 km of gas transmission pipelines and build 200 MW of gas pressure facilities will be completed by the end of the current Iranian year (March 2021-22).
“National gas supply has greatly contributed to the development of infrastructure in the rural areas,” the official said.
Montazer-Torbati said the construction of transmission lines and distribution network has created a chain of direct and indirect employment as it has been carried out by Iranian experts, engineers and workforce using equipment manufactured by domestic producers.
According to the NIGC data, there are more than 25 million natural gas subscribers in the country. In addition, 86 thermal power plants use gas, instead of liquid fuel, to generate electricity.
Liquid fuel consumption in power stations declined from 43% in 2012 to 20% in 2020. This has prevented the consumption of more than 58 billion liters of liquid fuels worth $26 billion and the export of such petroleum products in 2020 had more than quadrupled compared to 2012.
Natural gas production capacity currently stands at 1 billion cubic meters per day, which is expected to increase by 10% and reach 1.1 bcm/d by October.
The rise in production will come from phases 13 and 14 of South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf, which are not fully operational yet.
Of the total output, close to 75 mcm/d are sold to neighboring states, namely Iraq and Turkey. Armenia and Azerbaijan also buy gas via swap deals.
Consumption in household and commercial sectors accounts for 70% of the total output and close to 230 mcm/d of gas are delivered to power plants and petrochemical plants.
Rural Gas Supply
Piped gas was supplied to 2,913 rural areas and 23 cities in the last Iranian year (March 2020-21), the NIGC chief said.
“Gas supply projects to 4,000 villages are underway and will come on stream next March,” he added.
The expansion of the national gas grid has been made possible because of the rise 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.
Data indicate 18,000 villages have been connected to the national gas network since 2014. NIGC said it has invested over $17 billion in natural gas infrastructure since then.
“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,” he added.
Montazer-Torbati said expanding the gas network to small towns and villages in remote areas of the southern region, laying gas pipelines and setting up compressor stations are NIGC’s priorities.
An estimated 10,000 rural districts (mostly in the underdeveloped Sistan-Baluchestan) still lack piped gas.
Iran holds 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas that constitute 18% of the world’s proven reserves. But it is not a major gas exporter, as the bulk of its gas production is consumed locally.
Gas Supply in Kurdestan
In related news, ISNA reported that several gas supply projects were launched in the western Kurdestan Province last week.
“Last week, 86 gas supply projects were inaugurated, including gas supply to 23 villages and 63 industrial units,” managing director of the provincial gas company said.
“With the inauguration of the new rural gas supply projects, 1,425 villages in the province were connected to the natural gas grid,” Ahmad Felegari was also quoted as saying by ISNA.
“Currently, all urban population and 96.5% of the rural population in the western province have access to piped gas.”
Referring to ongoing operations regarding gas supply to 125 villages, the official said according to the company's plan, all villages with more than 20 households in the province will be connected to the national gas network by the end of the current Iranian year.
“When all is done, more than 680 households will be added to the company’s subscribers. In the industrial sector, 63 units will be provided with natural gas,” he added.
The total length of the grid in the province of 1.6 million people now exceeds 11,500 kilometers.
Felegari said almost 400 industrial units are linked to the grid, which help save 29 million liters of liquid fuel per annum.
