Gas Consumption Jumps 100%

Since a month ago when the rains started, gas consumption has increased by 100% compared with the same period of last year, the head of dispatching operations at the National Iranian Gas Company said.
“Natural gas usage in Iran’s household and business sectors has increased to 340 million cubic meters (mcm) per day on average during the first cold wave of the autumn, which is nearly double the amount consumed last year at this time,” Mohammad Reza Joulaei was quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
Iran offers natural gas to households and businesses at highly subsidized rates, which experts blame for the illogically high level of gas consumption in the country.
Rising usage over the past winter forced NIGC to cut gas supplies to electricity stations across Iran, causing brief but recurrent power cuts in large cities across the country.
Iran’s Oil Ministry authorities have warned there could be a shortage of nearly 200 mcm of gas over the cold days of the coming winter as demand is expected to increase by 8-10% year-on-year.  
NIGC has the capacity to pump nearly 1 billion cubic meters of gas per day to the national network.
Joulaei said the government has devised plans to ensure power plants in Iran will have access to adequate supplies of fuel oil over the winter to prevent any electricity outages in the country.