National Gas Grid Expansion on Agenda

Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company implemented projects worth $900 million to expand the national gas grid during the previous fiscal year that ended in March, the head of IGEDC said.

“Plans are underway to undertake $1.5 billion worth of gas projects annually in the coming years based on build-operate-transfer (BOT) contracts by opening letters of credit," Hassan Montazer-Torbati was quoted as saying by Shana on Tuesday.

"On average 300 kilometers of the gas pipeline has been laid annually over the last four years. Moreover, 10 gas turbocompressors have been installed in the same period," Montazer Torbati said.

According to the official, IGEDC has cleared all its arrears to domestic contractors and "the company faces no restrictions on purchasing equipment from domestic manufacturers of oil equipment."

The official elaborated on efforts to enhance the supply of natural gas to northern  regions after Turkmenistan cut supplies to Iran during the cold winter season in the beginning of the year "After extending the 3rd Iran Gas Trunkline (IGAT-3) from Asalouyeh to Markazi Province and ultimately to Gilan Province, another pipeline was laid from Rasht (in Gilan) to other cities in the province, notably Sangar, to boost gas supplies.

"According to Iranian energy officials, state-run Turkmengaz suddenly halted gas supplies to Iran “in an illogical decision that was against its contract on claims that Tehran had failed to meet its financial commitments" to the gas company in the Central Asian republic. Iran is adopting other measures for meeting the gas needs in the northern regions. Montazer-Torbati said that as soon as the pipe-laying across the cities of Damghan, Kiasar, Sari and Neka is completed, gas supply to the north "will increase significantly."

"The initiative, approved by the government, and at an estimated cost of $153  million, gained momentum after Turkmen supplies were disrupted. The venture has made 80% physical progress and is expected to be launched in August." He added that the completion of IGAT6, which supplies natural gas from South Pars field's phases 6-10 in Asalouyeh to western regions is high on the agenda.

"With the completion of more phases of South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf, liquid fuels such as diesel and mazut are replaced by natural gas as power plant feedstock," he noted, adding that the country has saved almost 50 billion liters of liquid fuel in the last three years. South Pars is the world's largest gas field, shared between Iran and Qatar, covering an area of 3,700 square kilometers of Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.

The country is expanding gas supply infrastructure as it looks to raise daily gas production to 1.2 billion cubic meters by 2021 from the present 880 million cubic meters.