TEHRAN – Iran’s daily natural gas consumption hit a record high of 592 million cubic meters (mcm) a day due to the recent heavy snowfall and cold weather which has blanketed the country, said the spokesman of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC).

"This condition (the cold weather) has caused the domestic and commercial consumption [of natural gas] to reach an unprecedented 592 million cubic meters per day." Mohammad Asgari told IRNA.

“If the current consumption trend continues, daily gas consumption will rise to over 600 million cubic meters per day,” he warned.

Emphasizing the need to pay more attention to the optimization of gas consumption, the official said: “Although the domestic gas sector is fully supplied considering the increase in gas production in South Pars field as well as the development of the country's gas network, however, the increase in domestic consumption could interrupt the gas supply to the country’s industrial sector, power plants, and petrochemical plants.”

As reported, currently, about 30,000 villages with 4.6 million households as well as 1,148 cities with over 18 million households are connected to the national gas network; this is while the development of the gas network for the industrial sector and power plants continues.

In August 2019, NIGC Dispatching Director Mehdi Jamshidi Dana said the country’s daily gas production has reached 810 mcm.

According to Jamshidi, with over 39,000 kilometers of high-pressure gas pipelines, 82 gas pressure boosting stations, 296 turbo-compressors and other gas facilities, the Iranian gas network is Asia’s biggest and the world's fourth-largest network in terms of facilities.

Back in January 2019, the NIGC’s managing director had announced that 93.6 percent of Iran’s population enjoy natural gas. 

Gas is supplied to 97 percent of people in the urban areas and 82 percent of people in the rural regions, according to Hassan Montazer Torbati.

EF/MA