Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.26/ Trend F.Karimov/
Iranian officials, including the president's deputy for strategic affairs Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, will decide on increasing CNG prices this week, ISNA quoted Ardeshir Dadras, the chairman of the board of directors of the union of Iranian CNG station owners as saying.
The Oil Minister has sent a letter to the National Economy Council and we are waiting the president's deputy for strategic affairs to take the final decision, he noted.
The Oil Minister has not suggested a specific price for CNG, he added.
In September, the Mehr News Agency reported that some 150 CNG stations across Iran have been closed due to low prices.
This is while the expansion of CNG stations has been promoted in the country to curb the consumption of gasoline.
Over 75 litres of gasoline and 19-20 million litres of CNG is consumed in Iran per day.
On September 11, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that the country will boost compressed natural gas (CNG) production to 30 million cubic meters (mcmc) per day, the Mehr News Agency reported.
The decision has been taken to create a balance between the consumption of gasoline and CNG in the country, he said.
He also said that the new gas transfer pipelines should be established across the country in order to guarantee the supply of natural gas nationwide.
In April, the Mehr News Agency reported that the CNG price may also rise in the current year, but did not provide details. Each cubic meter of CNG is sold at 2600 rials (some $0.2) to CNG stations.
Meanwhile, IRNA quoted National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company official Shahram Asadpour as saying that Iran plans to establish 314 new compressed natural gas (CNG) stations across the country in order to boost the CNG share in the country's fuel basket by two per cent to reach 25 per cent.
The number of compressed natural gas filling stations in the country stands at 1976, he added.