Azerbaijan, Baku, July 5/Trend M. Moezzi
Although Iran has the world's second largest gas reserves, 134 trillion cubic meters, the nation's high energy use claims too much of the natural resource that could be imported, Fars reported.
At a conference on alternative energy sources, the Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), Javad Owji, said Iranians could conserve up to 100 million cubic meters of gas annually.
That savings, added Mr. Owji, would be equal to the gas extracted from four phases of Iran's giant South Pars oil and gas field.
Given its difficult economic situation - partially a result of international sanctions against Iran's petroleum industry - the country's disproportionate energy use has become a greater source of worry for authorities.
In late June, an official at the Iran Energy Efficiency Organization (IEEO) warned that the amount of energy Iran consumes is equal that of a nation with 750 million people, and if its natural gas use continued at its current pace, it won't be able to meet domestic demand in three years.
Mr. Owji's statements are also reinforced by data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. According to that agency, in 2010 Iran was the world's fourth natural gas producer and its third natural gas consumer.
The NIGC head illustrated how much Iran loses to over-consumption and waste by citing the $3 billion Iran earns annually from its 8 billion cubic meters of gas imports to Turkey. Every year, said Mr. Owji, Iranians squander many times that amount, 150 billion cubic meters of gas.
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