TEHRAN - Iran’s natural gas export increased 22 percent in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-September 22), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, the head of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Dispatching Department said.

According to Mohammadreza Jolaei, over 109.6 billion cubic meters of gas has also been consumed inside the country over the mentioned six months, Shana reported.

Iranian households, businesses, and small industries accounted for 39.3 billion cubic meters of the total consumption, while major industries consumed 26.9 billion cubic meters and power plants used 43.4 billion cubic meters as fuel, the official said.

Jolaei noted that gas consumption by the domestic, commercial and non-major industries increased by more than one billion cubic meters (3.9 percent), compared to the same period last year, while the consumption by power plants decreased by about two billion cubic meters (five percent), and the consumption by major industries increased by three billion cubic meters (12 percent) compared to the first half of the previous year.

He put the total volume of gas injected into the network of national lines in the first 6 months of this year at 128.6 billion cubic meters, which has increased by two billion cubic meters (1.5 percent) compared to the same period last year.

The NIGC dispatching director also announced the readiness of the country's gas industry for stable supply of natural gas during the winter and emphasized that NIGC has made the necessary preparations in various fields including production, transmission, and distribution.

“Hopefully, there should be no problem in gas supply this year, especially in the household sector,” he added.

EF/MA