Gas supply to power plants has increased by 6 billion cubic meters since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2021) compared to the same period of last year, the National Iranian Gas Company’s director for dispatching said.
“In the first nine months of this year, 61 bcm of gas have been delivered to power plants while the figure was 55 bcm in the same period last year,” Mohammad Reza Joulaei was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
“The increase in gas supply to power stations has led to a reduction of 1 billion liters of diesel consumption in power plants,” he added.
Commenting on rising gas consumption in the country, he said, “Gas consumption in the domestic sector has now reached 560 million cubic meters per day while winter has just started. Last year, at the peak of consumption [mid-February], households consumed 565 mcm per day.”
Iran offers natural gas to households and businesses at highly subsidized rates, which experts blame on 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.
Oil Ministry officials have warned there could be a shortage of nearly 200 mcm of gas over the coming weeks, as demand is expected to increase by 10% year-on-year.
However, Joulaei said the government has devised plans to ensure power plants in Iran will have access to adequate supplies of fuel over the winter to prevent any electricity outages.
He also pointed to the storage of liquid fuel in power plants and said that with the cooperation of other related organizations, liquid fuel (diesel and mazut) have been supplied to power plants so that in case of higher gas consumption in the domestic sector, which will limit gas supply to power plants, electricity generation in power stations is not be disrupted.
