There are 2,600 compressed natural gas stations across Iran with a capacity of delivering 50 million cubic meters per day, although they are working at 44% of their capacity, a member of Iran's CNG Association said.
“The CNG industry development law was approved in the previous term of the parliament, but neither the previous nor the current administrations have taken any considerable measures to help increase CNG consumption,” Mohsen Johari was also quoted as saying by ISNA.
“Automobile manufacturers have also failed to produce high-quality CNG hybrids, and the contract signed last year between the Oil Ministry and Iran Khodro to produce 45,000 such vehicles did not produce any results,” he added.
Johari said manufacturing CNG hybrids has no place in the policies of domestic automakers, noting that banning the import of such cars is another problem.
“Despite having one of the most expanded natural gas networks in the world, CNG demand in Iran is about 24 million cubic meters per day,” he said.
According to estimates, the current gasoline demand in Iran (95 million liters per day) will surpass supply (105 ml/d) in the foreseeable future and the most effective strategy to help prevent the National Iranian Oil Company from becoming a gasoline importer is by developing the CNG sector.
Unlike gasoline, eco-friendly CNG minimizes harmful carbon emission. This helps engines run more efficiently and increases the life of spark plugs.
Abundant gas deposits and cost-effective production justify replacing gasoline with CNG.
One cubic meter of CNG costs 6,000 rials (3 cents), which is about four times cheaper than gasoline. A liter of subsidized gasoline costs 15,000 rials (7.5 cents) and non-subsidized fuel 30,000 rials (15 cents).
A nationwide plan is now underway for retrofitting 1.4 million gasoline-powered public transport vehicles and private cars to CNG hybrids.
However, since the start of the program three years ago, only about 200,000 gasoline-powered public transportation and commercial vehicles have been converted into compressed natural gas hybrids.
After the plan was approved by the Economic Council three years ago, the National Iranian Oil Company started to equip all CNG retrofitting centers with necessary kits and tanks, and the initiative made headway in the first two years.
The Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade has set up and certified over 400 conversion centers in 25 provincial centers to help implement the scheme. But it has not registered any progress due to economic instability and wild fluctuations in foreign exchange rates. The scheme is estimated to require a budget of $570 million.
If the problems are solved, CNG consumption is expected to reach 45 mcm/d at the end of the conversion scheme.
