Two gas projects have been launched in Sistan-Baluchestan Province and executive operations for two others were started on Thursday.
Iranshahr-Palizan-Khash-Mirjaveh gas pipeline, 256 kilometers long, was inaugurated at a cost of $25 million, the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana reported.
The pipeline will supply gas to Khash County and the city's cement factory, the border city of Mirjaveh as well as Sangan and Siah Jangal cities.
Projects to provide gas to 120 villages through 890 kilometers of distribution network were also launched with a credit of $85 million.
Executive operations for extending gas pipelines to eight other cities have also started.
Currently, a large number of people in the cities of Zahedan, Zabol, Iranshahr, Bampur and Mohammadan, and villages around them have access to piped gas.
With an area of 188,222 square kilometers (equivalent to 11.5% of the country's area) and a population of more than 2.8 million people, Sistan-Baluchestan is the only province partly deprived of piped gas. Until the whole population is connected to the grid, homes are making do with liquefied fuel.
Almost 4.7 million liters of liquefied fuel are supplied in the country per day, of which 2.2 million liters go to the southeastern province. The volume used in the province will decline when the new projects are completed.
Almost 95% of the country’s population are linked to the national gas network. An estimated five million people do not have access to piped gas, about half of which live in Sistan-Baluchestan.
Iranshahr was the first county in the province, which was partly connected to the gas grid. From there, a 262-km gas pipeline supplies gas to Zahedan, the provincial capital bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The pipeline is an extension of Iran Gas Trunkline 7 (IGAT-7) that stretches over 900 km between Asalouyeh, Bushehr Province, and Iranshahr, Sistan-Baluchestan.
More than $525 million have been spent on gas transmission lines for Sistan-Baluchestan. The completion of gas supply projects will help develop the underprivileged province.
Gas supply to the port city of Chabahar on Makran (also Mokran) coasts will contribute to prosperity to the region, especially in the industrial sector.
So far, over 100 factories and industrial units in the province have been linked to the gas network and 200 more will be connected soon. Natural gas as a clean fuel is gradually replacing polluting liquid fuels such as diesel and mazut in industries across the country.
