Iran plans to increase gas exports to 200mn cubic metres per day (mcm/d), Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has said, emphasising that exports via pipelines to neighbouring countries and the completion of LNG projects are prioritised.
Addressing a conference which was held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), Zanganeh added that the capacity of gas refineries will reach one billion cubic metres (bcm) in the next Iranian calendar year (March 2017-March 2018).
The NIGC director for international affairs, Azizollah Ramezani, said on July 25 that the country’s annual gas exports volume is projected to hit 68 bcm by the next five years through transferring gas via pipeline, mostly to neighbours.
According to officials, Iran has so far signed deals with Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan, and Oman to export a total of 46 bcm of gas per year, but for the time being it only delivers to Turkey, while the country plans to export around 6 mcm per day of gas to Iraq in August.
Meanwhile, Zanganeh referred to the downward trend of liquefied gas consumption as fuel in domestic power plants in recent years, clarifying that while liquefied gas constituted 18% of power plants’ total fuel in the Iranian calendar year 1394 (March 2015-March 2016), the amount will be decreased to less than 10% by the end of the current year (March 20, 2017).
“As of taking office [in August 2013], the Rouhani administration has added 300 mcm/d to the daily production of the South Pars gas field,” the oil minister boasted.
Zanganeh said that since becoming online, the phases 12, 15, 16, and 17 of the South Pars gas field have added 160 mcm to the country’s refined gas production capacity and 140 mcm to the dry gas production capacity.
“Phases 19, 18, 20 and 21 of South Pars gas field will become operational by the yearend,” he stressed.
According to him, the South Pars field’s daily gas production stood at 241 mcm in 2012, at 262 mcm in 2013, and at 356 mcm in 2015.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has earlier been reported being saying that “self-reliance in oil and gas sector will promote national power.”
