Despite freezing temperatures and heavy snowfalls in different parts of Iran, which have led to a record high gas consumption, the gas grid is stable throughout the country, although a slight pressure drop can be seen at some endpoints, and only subscribers in Torbat Jam County, Khorasan Razavi Province, suffered gas outage, the oil minister said.
Referring to measures taken for the 17,000 subscribers of Torbat Jam, which are deprived of gas, Javad Owji added that since Saturday (Jan. 15) the distribution of kerosene and gas cylinders has started for free in the city, and nearly 17,000 electric and oil heaters have been distributed by the National Iranian Gas Company among subscribers,” the Oil Ministry’s news service Shana reported.
The minister noted that he has issued an order to strengthen the transmission of Torbat Jam gas from the city of Fariman or Mashhad, so that this problem does not occur next year.
According to NIGC’s local department in Khorasan Razavi, the province experienced one of its coldest nights on record overnight on Friday, as temperature dropped to as low as minus 28 degrees Celsius in some areas in the northeastern province.
Gas supply cuts in the region also occurred two days after Iran lost gas import from Turkmenistan due to problems in the Central Asian country’s domestic supply network.
Under a swap agreement signed in November 2021, Iran imports 1.5-2 billion cubic meters of gas from Turkmenistan for consumption in its northeast and delivers the same amount of its own gas to Azerbaijan in the northwest.
Meteorological Reports
Based on meteorological reports, it was predicted that the country will have a very cold Siberian air front, which has started and will gradually spread nationwide, the oil minister said.
“The Oil Ministry, NIGC and the National Iranian Oil Company produced maximum gas from joint fields, independent gas fields and all gas refineries,” he added.
According to Owji, the overhaul of all transmission lines and pressure booster stations has already been conducted. Despite all these measures, subscribers need to manage their gas consumption so that there would be no problem regarding gas supply to any regions.
“Each degree of temperature reduction on the part of households lowers gas consumption by 25 million cubic meters,” he said.
The minister also warned high consumers of gas in the household sector and said, “Wherever gas consumption is out of proportion, we first give a warning and then cut off the gas flow.”
Last week, a new record in gas consumption was set in the country as nearly 700 million cubic meters of gas equivalent to 3.75 million barrels of oil were consumed on Thursday in the household, commercial and non-major industrial sectors of the country.
The sharp drop in temperatures in recent weeks, including in the capital Tehran, has led to an unprecedented increase in energy consumption.
According to Iran's Oil Ministry, gas consumption in the country has surged by 30% this year compared to last winter, which prompted authorities to close down offices and educational institutions.
Rise in SP Output
Shana reported that since the beginning of winter (Dec. 22), more than 15 billion cubic meters of gas have been injected into the national distribution network by the South Pars Gas Field, which shows a 5% increase compared with the same period of last year.
South Pars accounts for 80% of Iran’s gas need. Output from the giant field is now 700 mcm a day and will reach 1.2 bcm/d by 2024.
The giant gas field is spread over 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran’s territorial waters and the rest is in Qatari waters.
The field is divided into 24 phases, all but one are operational and plans are underway to increase the field output with the development of Phase 11.
The Phase 11 project included the construction and installation of the jackets and topsides of the phase, drilling 12 wells and laying 115-km-long 32-inch pipelines to transfer mono-ethylene glycol and liquefied natural gas to onshore plants for processing.
About 12,000 meters of drilling operations to dig four production wells have been carried out and it is estimated to reach 15,000 meters upon completion in the near future.
An estimated 14 million cubic meters of natural gas per day will be extracted from the phase initially.
When it becomes fully operational, the phase will produce 56.6 million cubic meters of gas per day, plus 75,000 barrels of gas condensate, which will be transferred to refineries in Asalouyeh and Kangan in Bushehr Province.
