Distribution of liquefied natural gas in Sistan-Baluchestan Province has risen by 15% over the last eight months compared to last year's corresponding period, says the managing director of the provincial National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC).
"Close to 20,000 tons of liquefied natural gas was distributed in the provincial capital Zahedan in one month to November 23," Kourosh Baladast was quoted by Shana as saying.
Households that are deprived of piped natural gas were given 400 liters of kerosene and will get 300 liters more of the fuel for the cold winter days.
NIOPDC has rejected recent reports that it had cut the deprived province's LNG quota, adding that the shortage of gas in the region “has nothing to do with distribution network.”
Eghtesad Online news website and Tabnak News Agency quoted Ali Kord, a lawmaker from Sistan-Baluchestan Province, as saying that people in the border regions are suffering from lack of gas as the cold winter approaches.
"These disadvantaged people will have to grapple with serious problems to keep their houses warm," Kord told the news agencies.
According to published reports Sistan-Baluchestan is the only region in Iran which is not fully connected to the national gas grid.
"The wide disparity between subsidized prices and the black market prices has tempted some into the illegal trading of the fuel," Baladast said. He did not provide any details.
According to Reza Panjabi, the head of Sistan-Baluchestan Province Gas Company, more than 15,000 households were added to the natural gas grid in Zahedan last year. The figure is expected to reach 26,000 by March.
Zahedan has a population of more than 650,000, according to a 2016 census.
Panjabi said $2.5 billion is needed for supplying all 700,000 households in the province with natural gas, which has not yet been approved by the government.
President Hassan Rouhani inaugurated a gas pipeline project in Zahedan in 2017 that stretches 262 km from Iranshahr County to Zahedan bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The pipeline is an extension of the Iran Gas Trunkline 7 (IGAT-7) that stretches over 900 km between Asalouyeh, Bushehr Province, and Iranshahr in Sistan-Baluchestan Province.
