Expansion of the national gas network in Sistan-Baluchestan Province is on track despite difficulties created by coronavirus in the southern regions, head of the provincial gas company said.
"Close to 1,200 kilometers high-pressure gas pipes have been laid in the southeastern province since March 2019 of which 200 km were laid since late March," Reza Panjabi was quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry's news portal.
The project has so far helped supply 52,000 new gas subscribers, increasing the total number of gas meters to almost 100,000 in the area, he said.
From the total extension (200 km costing $30 million), 130 kilometers were laid in Zahedan, 40 km in Delgan, 20 km in Zabol and 10 km in Bazman (a small city in Iranshahr County).
“Almost 36,000 new gas meters been installed in the household and industrial sectors in Zahedan (provincial capital) in the last fiscal that ended in March, raising the number of meters to 60,000.”
Referring to work now underway, he said 1,120 km of pipes are being laid in Chabahar, Khash, Saravan and Mirjaveh where the people use gas cylinders or liquid petroleum gas (LPG).
Curbing LPG Consumption
Around 36 million liters of LPG is consumed in the province per annum, which can be curbed “when pipe laying projects are complete.”
Sistan-Baluchestan is the only region in Iran not fully covered by the piped gas network.
The pipeline supplying gas to Sistan-Baluchestan is an extension of Iran Gas Trunkline 7 from Asalouyeh in Bushehr Province pumping from the giant South Pars field in the Persian Gulf.
South Pars is the world's largest gas field shared between Iran and Qatar, covering an area of 3,700 square kilometers of Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.
Besides expanding the urban gas network, linking power plants to the national grid is also underway to curb consumption of liquid fuel and improve air quality.
So far 100 factories and industrial units in the province have been linked to the gas network and more will join this year.
Sistan-Baluchestan is the second largest province but one of the poorest of the 31 provinces as majority of people have no access to safe water to observe hygienic protocols and that is why Covid-19 is spreading fast in the region.
Of over 200,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in Iran, at least 4,000 have been in Sistan-Baluchestan. Completion of the gas grid in the southeastern regions would be a great boost to Chabahar Port, Iran’s largest ocean port. Chabahar City is officially designated as a free trade and industrial zone.
National Status
NIGC data show that 98% of the urban population has access to piped gas. Close to 80% of the rural population is linked to the national distribution network including over 390,000 km of transmission and distribution pipelines.
Over 1,100 cities, 24,000 towns and 27,000 villages are linked to the grid, and the government plans to link all urban areas and 90% of the suburban population to the grid by 2022.
Iran holds the world’s second largest gas reserves after Russia. According to BP Statistical Review of World Energy, Iran has 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas that is 18% of the world’s proven reserves.
Iran’s daily gas output has reached 900 million cubic meters.
