Gas consumption in the commercial and household sectors reached 700 million cubic meters per day on Jan. 12, the managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company said.
“The high consumption shows an increase of 150 mcm per day compared with the same period of last year,” Majid Chegeni was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news service Shana.
“As the cold weather has swept across most parts of Iran, we are witnessing a drop in temperature in many regions. Less than two weeks into the winter, the temperature has reached minus 28 degrees Celsius in the northwestern and northeastern provinces, which has been unprecedented in the last 10 years,” he added.
Chegeni noted that despite the cold spell, fortunately the country has not had any gas outages.
Due to the persistence of the cold spell, gas consumption has increased and the growing trend of consumption is predicted to continue, he added.
In related news, the oil minister said the temperature is below zero in more than 460 cities in 27 provinces of the country.
Emphasizing that until now, there has been no report of gas shortages in the domestic and commercial sectors, Javad Owji, however, added that gas pressure in northeastern provinces has decreased, which is a warning to subscribers for adopting a more efficient consumption model.
Regarding the measures that can be taken to reduce consumption, he said, “Turning off unnecessary heating systems in the house, commercial centers and offices, and keeping the temperature between 18 and 21 degrees can ensure stable gas supply across the country.”
Heavy Consumption
Currently, 977 mcm of gas are extracted per day and 843 mcm are injected into the country's national grid.
Of NIGC’s total daily production, 60% are used in homes, which is a massive volume. It is expected to reach 70% later this year.
The national grid is stable and measures have been taken to prevent supply interruption. However, the heavy consumption is taking its toll on industries, power stations and petrochemical plants, as they are being gradually cut off from the national grid.
Officials have said that if subscribers cut home temperature by 2 degrees centigrade, as much as 50 mcm of gas can be saved daily, which is equivalent to the gas produced in two phases of the giant South Pars Gas Field per day.
South Pars has 24 phases, all of which (except Phase 11) are now operational. The field, which Iran shares with Qatar, covers 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which (South Pars) are in Iran’s territorial waters and the rest is owned by Qatar.
Almost 40% of gas in the Middle East are consumed in Iran, an unreasonably high level by any standard. The residential sector is the largest consumer followed by power plants and petrochemical companies.
With a population of 85 million, Iran burns more than 140 billion cubic meters of gas annually, not far from China, the world’s second-largest economy and the most populous country in the world, which consumed 191 billion cubic meters in 2015.
NIGC has raised gas production, especially from South Pars in the Persian Gulf, to meet the growing needs of power plants. However, the household sector’s demand is so high that the country needs to increase its gas output every year.
While average global gas consumption has risen by 2% in the past three decades in Iran, demand has hiked by 4% during the same period.
Gas use in the household sector in other countries, including Russia and the US, doubles in winter, but the figure rises sixfold in Iran between December and February, which is totally abnormal and puts tremendous pressure on NIGC.
Iran is not only unable to fulfill its international export commitments, but the thermal power plants also have to burn eco-unfriendly mazut instead of gas, causing massive pollution in metropolitan cities.
