The urban population of Ilam Province in western Iran has been completely supplied with gas and with the completion of gas supply projects to 44 villages by the end of the current Iranian year (March 2023), over 99% of the rural population will have access to natural gas.
Currently, 97% of Ilam’s rural regions are linked to the gas grid, the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana reported.
All the 26 cities and about 515 villages of the province are connected to the national gas network. Of the remaining 102 villages that have no access to gas, 44 will be supplied with piped gas by March 2023.
A total of 270 km of distribution network will be laid to transfer gas from Ilam Refinery to these villages.
With the completion of gas supply to these villages, about 2,000 households will be provided with natural gas.
Studies are underway to connect 14 villages located in remote and far-fetched areas to the grid. Gas supply to these villages will help more than 330 households get access to natural gas.
Gas Refinery
Last year, Ilam Refinery supplied 1.5 billion cubic meters of refined gas to the national grid that was sold to households and industrial sectors in Ilam and neighboring provinces.
The refinery currently uses 6.8 million cubic meters of sour gas per day as feedstock.
The construction of the second phase of the refinery started in winter and the development project will help increase feedstock from 6.8 to 10.2 million cubic meters, which will help boost the production of various byproducts.
With the completion of the second phase in two years, the refinery's products, including natural gas for urban and industrial use, sulfur, ethane, gas condensate and liquefied petroleum gas, which are used as feedstock in Ilam Petrochemical Complex, will increase by 1.5 times.
Annually, 130,000 tons of ethane, 230,000 tons of liquefied natural gas, 70,000 tons of sulfur and 1,350,000 barrels of gas condensate are produced in the refinery.
With 99.98% purity, the sulfur product of the refinery is of the highest quality and mostly used in domestic industries. Liquefied natural gas is provided to Ilam Petrochemical Complex as its feedstock.
With an estimated 14 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves and 17 billion barrels of oil reserve, equal to 6% and 11% of Iran's reserves respectively, Ilam ranks second and third in the country in terms of gas and oil.
Ilam Province produces more than 230,000 barrels of oil per day and 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year, accounting for 90% of western Iran's oil and gas, making Ilam the energy hub of western Iran.
The most important oil and gas fields in Ilam include Dehloran, Tang-e Bijar, Chashmeh Khosh, Paydar-e Gharb, Azar and Danan.
