In line with the policy to expand the national gas grid, projects are underway to add over 1,500 kilometers of pipelines to the country's gas network in the current fiscal that started on March 21, an Oil Ministry official said.
Mohsen Farsibaf, the project manager of Iran Gas Engineering and Development Company, added that the installation of 200 km of pipelines is underway and projects involving 1,300 km more have been handed to contractors, the implementation of which will commence soon, Shana reported.
"Over 3,300 km of pipes are also in the design and engineering phase," he said, without elaborating further.
The country plans to extend its 36,000-km high-pressure gas pipes to 45,000 km by 2025.
According to Saeed Tavakkoli, the managing director of National Iranian Gas Transmission Company, by 2025, the length of Iran’s gas pipelines should increase by 9,000 km and the annual gas transfer capacity is planned to reach 400 billion cubic meters from 240 billion cubic meters at present.
Farsibaf noted that this year's plan includes the laying of 599 km of pipelines to complete the Sixth Iran Gas Trunkline (IGAT-6), as well as adding 230 km to the Dehgolan- Miandoab pipeline.
IGAT-6 is designed to transfer fossil fuel from South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf to southern and western regions. It branches off to the city of Ahvaz in Khuzestan Province and from there will be connected to a pipeline in Iraq for export to the western Arab neighbor.
In July 2015, a build-operate-transfer contract to expand IGAT-6 was signed by IGEDC and Pasargad Energy Development Company.
According to the IGEDC official, natural gas supply capacity from the giant South Pars field to the southern and western regions will increase by 80 million cubic meters per day soon after the launch of the new section.
Referring to other projects, he said the establishment of 18 gas compressor stations, along with IGAT-6, is on the company's agenda during the current fiscal.
IGEDC has already set up 79 stations and plans are in progress to increase them to as many as 130 stations.
Underscoring the importance of developing national gas infrastructures, the official noted that as the network is extended, gas will be transferred faster from far-flung refineries to urban areas.
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.
