NIOC Assures of Adequate Gas, Liquid Fuel Supply in Winter

Iran’s natural gas production will reach 940 million cubic meters per day during winter when consumption of the domestic, commercial, industrial and power plants rises, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company said.
“Of this amount, 700 million cubic meters of gas will be provided through 37 offshore platforms in the Persian Gulf and the South Pars Gas Field, which account for 70% of the country's gas output,” Mohsen Khojastehmehr was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
Emphasizing on providing safe fuel in the cold months of this year, he said, “We will have maximum gas production in the winter and liquid fuel will be used where needed.”
The Energy Ministry is collaborating with the Oil Ministry to fill the fuel storage tanks of power plants so that they can fully operate and generate electricity in the winter.
Natural gas supply to power plants was cut last winter due to the rise in home gas consumption and more mazut and diesel were used. Therefore, the supply of liquefied fuels to thermal power plants is underway so that no power cuts happen in the cold season.

Harmful But Necessary

So far, over 66% of the power plants' liquid fuel storage tanks have been filled and the rest will be completed before the beginning of winter, managing director of Iran's Thermal Power Plants Holding Company said.
Stressing that the use of liquefied fuels is not economical for power plants, Mohsen Tarztalab added that when power stations use liquid fuel instead of gas, their repair costs increase.
“Gas has a lower price than liquid fuel. However, sometimes we are forced to use it instead of gas to prevent power outages,” he added.
Total gas production reached 1 bcm/d, of which 700 mcm/d are generated by South Pars and the rest is produced by the Iranian Central Oil Fields Company that has three subsidiaries, namely West Oil and Gas Production Company, East Oil and Gas Production Company and South Zagros Oil and Gas Production Company.
Although most power stations in Iran use gas, close to 23 million liters of liquefied fuel, namely diesel and mazut, are also used in thermal plants (per day) that have limited access to gas, including Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan Province and Tabriz in East Azarbaijan Province and Arak in Markazi Province.
Supplying gas to power plants, instead of diesel and mazut, not only curbs air pollution but also helps increase revenue from exports.
The National Iranian Gas Company has managed to raise gas production, especially in the South Pars Gas Field, to meet demand from power plants. However, household use was so high last winter that gas delivery to power plants had to be cut by half.
Iran burns record amounts of natural gas, which is way higher than the global average. While average global gas consumption has risen by 1.65% in three decades, demand for the fuel in Iran has shot up by 4.2% in the same period.