TEHRAN (Iran News) –Former Head of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Hamid Reza Araqi says currently gas production is leaning on decline and the more time passes, the production decline is getting intensified and in the next years Iran will be completely a gas importing country.
Speaking to ILNA, Araqi talked about Qatar’s gas plans in its joint gas fields with Iran and said that South Pars is a joint reservoir and both parties can extract from it as much as they can, adding that of course it has an international treaty that restricts both sides to extract the fields according to the international standards and currently Qatar is signing contracts and it recovers more while Iran because of lack of investment is unable to recover more.
He noted that currently South Pars fields have reached the stage where they need to increase the pressure, and it costs and it needs new technology for having horizontal exploitation while the Phase 11 of South Pars is progressing sluggishly and it lacks horizontal exploitation, new investment and boosting pressure. He admitted that the trend of job is not ideal and Qatar invests and uses new technology and signs contracts with big companies and it meets the demand of the world’s gas need and also takes more gas in the future, adding that the Iran’s side of wells see drop and there is no investment and the country is unable to import new technology.
Araqi reiterated that currently the gas production is facing downward trend and the more time passes, this decline will be intensified and the country will turn into a gas importing country and the oil ministry, government and Majlis should think of technology and investment and increase the pressure.
He went on to say that country is facing with a serious gas crisis, adding that for example in the winter gas supply for industries should be restricted and gas for households should not be cut because any disrupt in gas supply for households may lead to social crisis and if the gas supply for industries is restricted, economic crisis will happen in the country and industries like petrochemicals, steel and power plants will face problems and they will be pushed to move towards using the second fuel and it will lead to more air pollution.
He also called for reinforcing the pressure system in the gas fields and upgrading the technology and investment in new energies. He also urged the government and Majlis to focus on long-term projects and they need to make the nation aware of their decisions and make the difficult decision. He noted that today all part of the country is linked to gas energy and there is no network in the world like Iran because we have many transmission lines and reinforcing power stations.
Araqi reiterated that NIGC is unable to resolve the problem by itself and the oil ministry, government and Majlis should define a solution for this problem.
