Consumption of compressed natural gas (CNG) is on the decline despite rapid growth in the recent past, secretary of the Iran CNG Guild said, ILNA reported Tuesday.
"Promotion of CNG is an inevitable economic and environmental necessity for a country that holds the second largest gas reserves in the world," Pourreza Dabir said, adding that the CNG industry is self-reliant.
Despite the strong embrace of CNG, its consumption is slipping and owners of private cars are turning away from this fuel.
CNG is an alternative to gasoline which is made by compressing natural gas to less than one percent of its volume at standard atmospheric pressure. CNG is drawn from natural gas wells or in conjunction with oil production.
Efforts to promote CNG consumption started more than a decade ago, as Iran tried to capitalize on its huge gas reserves, and an extensive gas distribution network that serves more than 80 percent of the population.
The country increased use of CNG to power vehicles, an effort which helped ease the pressure from international sanctions on petrol imports in the past few years.
The US imposed sanctions on Iran to curb the country's nuclear program which it claims is geared to military use. Iran insists it is peaceful. Iran and P5+1 (a group of world powers including the US, Russia, China, UK and France, plus Germany) were unable to reach a comprehensive deal by a November 24 deadline and extended the talks for seven more months.
Iran is one of the leading countries in promotion of CNG with 2,249 CNG stations. More than $2.4 billion has been invested for promotion of CNG, and close to 22,000 individuals are employed in this industry.
