TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s natural gas consumption reached 104 billion cubic meters (bcm) in the first half of the current calendar year ending September 21.
A senior official at the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said that power plants had been responsible for the highest usage of natural gas in Iran with 41.34 bcm burnt for electricity generation over the past six months, Press TV reported.
Mohammadreza Julayi, who heads dispatching operations at the NIGC, said that households and small businesses used 39.63 bcm of gas over the period while some 23.82 bcm went to large manufacturers and industrial units.
Julayi said that the total natural gas injected to the nationwide gas pipelines between March 21 and September 21 had reached nearly 120.25 bcm, an increase of five percent compared to the similar period in 2019.
Iran’s daily gas consumption in summer days is over 550 mcm with Julayi saying that consumption on September 22, which marked the first day of autumn in the Persian calendar yea, peaked 554 million cubic meters.
Iran’s growing demand for natural gas has been met with a stable increase in the country’s production capacity. Government figures show actual output will top 1 bcm per day by March 2021, a bulk of which would come from the sprawling South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf.
Rising output has helped government save a huge amount of gas oil burnt in electricity stations to make it available for exports.
NIGC figures and international reports published in recent years suggest that increased gas oil exports have provided a lifeline to the Iranian government as it keeps struggling with lower crude sales due to American sanctions and lower demand for oil in the international markets.
IRNA also reported on Wednesday that Iran’s capacity for natural gas refining increased from 670 mcm per day in 2013 to 1.11 bcm per day this year.
- source : Iran Daily
