Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said the number of household gas subscribers in the country has increased by over 4.56 million in the past four years.
"Close to 3.14 million subscribers from 107 small towns and 11,500 subscribers from rural areas have been added to the grid during the period," Zanganeh was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
"Currently, over 99% of the urban population and 82% of village-dwellers are connected to the grid, accounting for 93% of the country's total population [excluding the underdeveloped provinces of Sistan-Baluchestan and Hormozgan]."
The oil minister noted that Sistan-Baluchestan's capital city of Zahedan has been connected to the gas network and plans to supply gas to several other cities of the province are on the agenda.
Zanganeh added that efforts are also underway to add 5,000 more villages with about 430,000 residents to the national grid with an investment of 3.7 trillion rials ($881 million).
Noting that a large proportion of the equipment to expand the national gas grid has been supplied by domestic producers, the official noted that deals worth 17 trillion rials ($4 billion) have been signed with Iranian contractors and manufacturers to carry out the mega-project.
Zanganeh said the plan has not been financed by the government's budget, but comes from resources earned from exporting liquid gas to foreign markets.
According to Saeed Momeni, the National Iranian Gas Company's director for gas supply, less than 55% of the population in rural areas were connected to the grid in 2014, yet the figure has risen significantly and plans are underway to increase it to 90% by 2020.
However, experts believe that extending the network to remote and mountainous areas in which the number of household is less than 20 is not economically viable, so the company is obliged to supply such residents with alternative sources, namely liquid fuels.
"More than 22 million subscribers in 1,106 cities and 24,260 towns are currently provided with the fuel," Momeni said.
--- Domestic Equipment
About 95% of equipment used in the gas industry are produced domestically, he said, adding that in the past 10 years, the share of Iranian equipment in NIGC’s projects has risen from 70% to 95%, indicating a 35% increase.
"Cooperation with Iranian companies with the goal of expanding domestic production will encourage the firms to continue their efforts," he said.
Stressing that with the increase of competiveness in all commercial fields, having a brand is no longer a choice but a necessity, Momeni noted that although the gas industry has a special place in the country’s sustainable development plan, it needs branding to have an influential role in international markets.
“The role of branding for influencing and sustaining international markets should be explained to companies active in the industry to urge them enhance their brands,” he said.
The NIGC official added that brand-building requires stability, uniqueness, desirability, innovation, initiation, creditability and cooperation.
Momeni said the execution of retrofit analysis, monitoring of gas compression stations and improvement of filtration systems, data collection and data mining, as well as the establishment of a smart natural gas network are some of the main goals of gas supply department in brand-building, stressing that provincial gas officials should pay more attention to the above issues.
