Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.22
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Natural gas should replace fuel oil as feeding fuel in power plants, IRNA quoted head of Iran's Environmental Protection Organization Masoumeh Ebtekar as saying on February 22.
The Ministry of Oil should make effort to omit fuel oil from the fuel basket of power plants, Ebtekar added.
God willing, natural gas production will be increased, so that fuel oil will no longer be used as feeding fuel in power plants, Ebtekar said.
Earlier this month, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said consumption of fuel oil in power plants incur losses the national economy and the natural environment, as well.
Natural gas currently accounts for about seven percent of Iranian power plants' fuel consumption, the managing director of National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC), Mostafa Kashkouli, said on Jan. 10, the Mehr News Agency reported.
"From the beginning of the current calendar year (March 21, 2013) some 21 billion liters of liquid fuels have been consumed in Iran's power plants, which is about four billion liters more than the same period of time last year," Kashkouli said.
"During the mentioned period, gas supply to power plants was around 3.5 billion liters less than the same period last year," Kashkouli said.
Currently some 135 million liters of liquid gas per day is consumed in the power plants.
It was reported in December that gas supply to industries in Iran has been limited, while domestic gas consumption has reached a critical level due to severe cold weather.
Supplying gas to power plants has been limited, and the country's main industries including steel, cement and petrochemical industries have faced a gas shortage.
The National Iranian Gas Company announced on Dec. 21 that it has limited gas supply to petrochemicals with the oil ministry's approval.
"Based on the oil ministry's order, the NIGC can cut gas supply to petrochemical complexes for two months and industrial units for four months in the case of severe shortage," the company said.
"However, currently some 30 million cubic meters of gas per day is supplied to industrial units, while petrochemical units receive 20 million cubic meters per day," according to the company's statement.
The country's power plants currently use oil products including fuel oil and kerosene instead of gas.
Iran's power plants need around 140-150 million cubic meters of gas per day, but with the gas shortage the country is facing, the power plants have turned to consuming fuel oil or kerosene.