TEHRAN – Iran’s natural gas production in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-September 22) increased by 4,000 million cubic meters (mcm) or one percent compared to the previous year’s same period, an official with the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said.

According to NIGC’s Head of Production Coordination and Supervision Management Ahmad Zamani, sour gas extraction was increased by three percent in the said six months, while an 18-percent increase was also achieved in LPG production.

Speaking in an NIGC roundtable on the challenges of natural gas supply in the cold season, Zamani noted that the overhaul program of the country’s gas facilities is almost completed and will be wrapped up by the end of the current Iranian calendar month (October 22).

He put the capacity of the country’s natural gas production at one billion cubic meters per day and said that the production of sweet gas in the country is currently 840 to 850 mcm per day.

$4b invested for smartening gas network

Also speaking in the roundtable, Jalal Nour-Mousavi, the NIGC's director for gas supply, announced the company’s plan for investing four billion dollars in smartening programs within the next four years.

“In order to optimize gas consumption, a four-year project has been planned for smartening the network with an investment of four billion dollars,” he said.

According to the official, there are currently 27 million gas meters active on the country’s gas network whose smartening is on the agenda.

EF/