A senior energy official warned against injudicious gas consumption in Iran, calling on both private and public sectors to adopt more efficient patterns.
Saeed Momeni, the National Iranian Gas Company's director for gas supply, added that the current trend of gas consumption, particularly through the use of inefficient gas appliances, need to be modified to prevent any future crises, ISNA reported.
Gas consumption in the country ranges from 420 to 470 million cubic meters per day, which is four times higher than the global average.
With a population of 80 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, which consumed a total of 191 billion cubic meters in 2015, data show.
Reportedly, almost 40% of Middle East’s gas consumption takes place in Iran, an unreasonably high level by any standard. The residential sector is the largest consumer, followed by power plants.
Momeni noted that the most energy wasting sector is the power plants, adding that over 65% of the gas supplied to power plants as feedstock are wasted.
He called for using modernized equipment and upgrading power plant infrastructures to reduce wastage as much as possible.
The official also said the residential sector plays a key role in regulating gas, and in general, energy consumption patterns.
"Improving consumption behavior in the domestic sector can also help make up for the high natural gas demand," he added.
Momeni noted that natural gas is among the products receiving top subsidies, implying that unless gas prices are modified, neither can we tackle the problem nor will people and industries change their consumption patterns.
According to the official, sending each cubic meter of gas into the national grid costs 4,000-5,000 rials (8 to 10 cents), while the average charge stands at 960 rials (less than 2 cents).
Momeni said optimization of gas consumption can both reduce the country's reliance on imports and increase exports.
"Prudent consumption would lead to higher foreign exchange income from gas exports," he said.
Iran has the capacity to produce upwards of 800 mcm/d of gas, but most of its output is used to meet domestic demand.
The company supplies around 46 mcm/d of gas to Turkey and Iraq, of which over 30 million are supplied to Turkey.
In a recent interview, Hamidreza Araqi, NIGC's managing director, said his company is intending to increase gas exports to Iraq to 50 mcm/d.
