TEHRAN (Iran News) –Iran has negotiated with Turkmenistan to import gas from the neighboring country, the director of the integrated planning at the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said.
“Gas swap from Turkmenistan has doubled,” Hossein-Ali Mohammad-Hosseini said at a panel on investment opportunities in NIGC, adding Iran is in talks with Turkmenistan to import gas.
Iran, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan signed a gas swap deal for up to 2 billion cubic meters per year in 2021.
Iran was the third-largest gas producer in the world after the United States and Russia in last Iranian calendar year (ended March, 20, 2023), he stated, adding Iran produced 291 billion cubic meters of gas and injected 271 billion cubic meters of sweet gas to its national gas network.
The National Iranian Gas Company invested over 400,000 billion rials last Iranian calendar year, which will increase to 550,000 billion rials this year (to end March 19, 2023).
Iran’s gas industry needs about 40 billion dollars in investment by the end of the Seventh Development Plan, he said, adding 20 billion dollars are expected to be invested by private sector.
Hosseini also said that natural gas transmission via Iran’s national network is expected to reach 280 billion cubic meters in the current Iranian calendar year 1402 (began on March 21).
Speaking on the sidelines of the 27th Iran International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition (Iran Oil Show 2023), Hosseini said the volume of gas transmitted through the country’s network increased by 2.2 percent in the previous year.
As IRNA reported, the official said NIGTC delivers natural gas to 2,200 pressure reduction stations, cities, and large industries such as petrochemicals and power plants.
“Gas is also stored at Shourijeh and Sarajeh storage facilities and injected into oil wells at three points,” he added.
Hosseini noted that NIGTC operates the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC)’s largest physical asset which is the country’s national gas network, saying: “In total, there are 39,000 kilometers of high-pressure gas transmission lines, 90 pressure reduction stations, 61 operating yards and 330 compressors operating under NIGTC across the country.”
According to the official, the company also managed to complete 107 cases of major overhauls last year, and while conducting smart tracking on 3,000 kilometers of pipelines, 1100 cases of small repairs and 48,000 kilometers of leak detection were also carried out on the facilities and lines operated by the NIGTC.
Operating the largest natural gas network in West Asia, NIGC has been continuously expanding this network into the country’s most remote areas so that currently over 98 percent of the urban population, as well as 90 percent of the country’s rural population, have access to natural gas through this huge network.
IGTC, as the NIGC’s subsidiary in charge of the management, maintenance, and operation of the country’s national gas network, has been working around the clock to ensure a safe, secure, and sustained supply of natural gas throughout the country all year long, especially during the cold seasons.
