Upon the completion of projects to supply gas to villages in Qotour rural district in Khoy County, West Azarbaijan Province, by March 2024, about 86% of rural regions in the area will be connected to the national gas grid, the head of National Iranian Gas Company said.
“Projects costing $35 million are underway to supply gas to 120 villages and 56 industrial units in the region this year,” Majid Chegeni was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news service Shana.
Last year, gas was supplied to 50 villages across the country, most of which were located in border and deprived areas.
“Currently, some 36,000 villages comprising 85% of the rural areas have access to natural gas, to which another 6,000 will be added within a year,” he added.
The expansion of the national gas grid has been made possible due to the rise in gas production.
Domestic gas output has surpassed 1 billion cubic meters per day, a major part of which comes from the giant South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf.
Data indicate 18,000 villages were connected to the national gas network since 2014. NIGC said it has invested over $17 billion in natural gas infrastructure since 2013.
“The big part [of the funds] went to complete the major South Pars Gas Field phases and the Iran Gas Trunkline to expedite gas delivery to remote rural areas, power plants and industries,” he said.
Chegeni said expanding the gas network to small towns and villages in faraway areas in the southern region, laying gas pipelines and setting up compressor stations are NIGC priorities.
An estimated 10,000 rural districts (mostly in the underdeveloped Sistan-Baluchestan Province) still lack piped gas.
Smart Gas Meters
According to Reza Noshadi, managing director of the state-run Iran Gas Engineering and Development Company, a subsidiary of NIGC, operations to replace traditional natural gas meters with smart devices in household, commercial and industrial sectors have commenced.
“NIGC will replace 3 million old meters with high-tech gadgets by March 2024,” he said.
“The plan, estimated to cost $4 billion, is expected to help reduce annual natural gas loss in Iran's national grid by about 2 billion cubic meters.”
The massive loss is not only due to human error in reading the meters but also caused by falsification of gas meters.
Noshadi noted that smart meters have been used in Britain and the US since 2001.
Gas, electric and water consumption can be recorded more accurately by the smart meter. Users are informed about their daily use and sent notifications in case of excessive consumption.
Interfering with something as explosive and flammable as natural gas poses a significant risk.
