TEHRAN - Iranian Oil Minister Javad Oji has said the country’s oil and gas industry ranks first among the major gas exporting and producing countries in reducing flare gases.

pointing to the recent Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) summit held in Algeria, the minister said a comprehensive report was given at the forum on the situation of gas reserves and gas production among member states which supply 70 percent of the world gas.

According to the secretariat of the GECF, the average natural gas production growth stands at 2.5 percent, with Iran managing to register a 5% gas production growth, he added.

The next edition of the GECF will be held in Iran in November 2024, the oil minister revealed, adding that Iran presented its up- and downstream capabilities in the oil and gas industry at the Algeria forum.

In addition, Iran unveiled a new format of contracts in developing the country’s gas fields to attract foreign investors, Oji highlighted.

He further pointed out that Iran concluded good agreements with the member states of gas-exporting countries in the fields of exporting technical and engineering services, selling gas byproducts, developing gas fields, and developing gas pressure-boosting stations.

The 7th meeting of the GECF Heads of State and Government was held in Algiers, the capital of Algeria, earlier this month, with Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Oil Minister Javad Oji in attendance.

During the GECF summit, Iran’s Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI) was awarded for doing unique research into flare gas collection and putting the research into practice on the sidelines summit.

Azim Kalantari-Asl, the RIPI head, received the GECF Award for Long-Term Commitment to Natural Gas in 2024, during a ceremony attended by Oji.

The Head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has said that the country’s oil fields will stop wasting flare gas, which is burned during drilling production processes, within two years.

According to Mohsen Khojasteh Mehr, the NIOC has allocated $5.0 billion to projects for stopping the controversial practice of burning off gases through stacks at oil fields, and these projects have reached 70 percent physical progress.

In late January, the Iranian Oil Ministry announced that a major plan for recovering flare gases in East Karun oil fields, which is being implemented in the form of 25 projects in four provinces, has reached 60 percent progress.

This plan, which is being implemented with an investment of $1.1 billion by Bidboland Gas Refining Company, will play a key role in preserving the environment of the region and protecting national wealth.

Earlier that month, Oji said the recovery of flare gases in the South Pars gas field is going to be increased to 17 million cubic meters (mcm) per day by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 19).

Putting the current recovery level of flare gas in the mentioned field at 11 mcm per day, Oji said the figure is going to increase to 40 mcm per day by the end of the current government administration (August 2025).

Gas flaring is the process of burning the gas released through certain industrial processes, including oil extraction. In the past, when the demand for natural gas was low and, consequently, producers had little incentive to gather and sell it, it was generally – and more reasonably – dissipated through flaring.

EF/