Given the rising consumption of gas and other energy carriers in Iran, even the world's largest gas reserve, South Pars in Asalouyeh region of Bushehr Province, does not seem to be capable of meeting domestic energy demands, a new report says.
Energy consumption in Iran is considerably higher than the global average, according to a report by ISNA. In order to generate $1,000 of GDP, an average of 0.19 tons of oil equivalent is consumed globally. The figure, nevertheless, stands at 0.63 tons in Iran.
Consuming an average of 600 million cubic meters of gas per day – as stated on Saturday by a senior official from the National Iranian Gas Company, Iran's gas consumption amounts to European industries as a whole. Iran's annual per capita gas consumption is almost three times higher than the global average of 600 cubic meters. With a population of 78 million, consumption in certain sectors in Iran equals that of the 1.3 billion populace of China.
Iran stands 3rd in the world in terms of gas consumption, whilst having a comparatively small population and low economic growth. Energy consumption rate is growing so fast in Iran that the head of the Iranian Fuel Conservation Company, Nasrollah Seifi, warned recently that the country may become an energy importer by 2015.
Due to an alarming rate of gas consumption, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh called on authorities to manage consumption in the country in separate letters to the head of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and provincial governors. “Improvident gas consumption in administrative, commercial, and household sectors has by far outstripped production,” Zanganeh said in late December.
Consumption of gasoline, diesel, mazut and kerosene – the four major petroleum products - surpassed 60 billion liters in the March-December period. An average of 102 million liters of diesel, 38 million liters of mazut, 8.7 million liters of kerosene, and 70 million liters of gasoline was consumed daily in the first nine months of the current Iranian year (ending March 20, 2015).
Consumption of gasoline and diesel increased by 2 percent in the March-December period compared to a year ago, while mazut and kerosene consumption rose by 27 percent and 10 percent, respectively. More than 119 billion cubic meters of gas was pumped into the national gas pipeline in the said period, nearly 13 percent higher than the same period last year.
More than 75 percent of the country's energy needs are met through natural gas, the heating value of which equals approximately four million barrels of oil per day.
To curtail wasteful energy use and limit demand growth, the government has embarked on an energy subsidy reform to raise the prices of domestic petroleum, natural gas, and electricity. The first phase of the plan was enacted in late 2010, and phase two was initiated in 2014.
