Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.30 /Trend, A.Yusifzade /
According to the forecasts, Iran will increase its gas production up to 1.1 billion cubic meters per day by late 2015, Asghar Sohili Pur, deputy managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company was quoted by Naftnews as saying.
Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Javad Oji said that the country's daily production of natural gas has reached 600 million cubic meters (mcm) in the current Iranian calendar year, which started on March 21, 2010.
He added that Iran's gas production is expected to double within four years.
Oji, who is also the managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company, underlined that natural gas is used in Iran's power plants and related industries, for injecting into oil fields, at home, and for export.
"Today, over 54 power plants in the country use gas to meet their fuel needs, and in summertime gas consumption of power plants hits 210 million cubic meters a day. Moreover, more than 33,000 major and non-major industries of the country use gas to meet their needs in fuel."
He noted that when oil is extracted from an oilfield, pressure drops, but this problem can be resolved by injecting gas into the oilfield so that the reduction in oil production is prevented.
"Iran ranks second on the largest gas reserves in the world. The country is the fourth (leading) producer and the third (leading) consumer of gas in the world. A large portion of this consumption is used domestically in winter," Oji said.
He stressed the fact that Iranian households consume much gas. He pointed out that while gas should be supplied to power plants and industries, it is used at home. Consumption of gas at home is 4.5 times more than the global standard.
He stated that roughly 13 gas refineries operate in the country now, while only one gas refinery, Bidboland-1, operated in the pre-Islamic Revolution era.
Oji also said that the country's network of gas pipelines has expanded up to 33,000 kilometers, roughly 20,000 kilometers of which are part of the inner city and rural networks.
He added that 9,300 Iranian villages are supplied with gas.
"Iran has embarked on the development of 14 projects in South Pars, which will officially come on stream in 35 months," Mehr news agency quoted Pars Special Economic Energy Zone Managing Director Moussa Souri as saying on Friday.
He added that officials of the Iranian gas industry decided that flaring should be halted in the South Pars gas field as soon as possible to improve the region's environment.
"One of our main priorities now is to increase gas exploitation in the South Pars field," Souri noted.
According to BP, Iran's has 137.6 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and 29.61 trillion cubic meters of proven gas reserves. Iran ranks third in the world in oil reserves and second in gas reserves.
Gas production at Iran's giant offshore natural gas field, South Pars, rose by nearly 30 percent between March 2009 and March 2010. The amount hits roughly 59 billion cubic meters of processed gas for the full year, or about 162 million cubic meters per day.
The South Pars gas field is located in the Persian Gulf in the border zone between Iran and Qatar. The field's reserves are estimated at 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of gas condensates.
The South Pars field covers an area of 3,700 square kilometers. The process of developing gas production projects in the South Pars Special Economic Energy Zone is divided into 28 phases.
According to Pars Oil and Gas Company Managing Director Ali Vakili, production at Iran's giant South Pars gas field will rise up to 175 million cubic meters per day for the next two years.
In July, the European Union imposed a new round of sanctions on Iran, which mainly sought to target investment and technical assistance to Iran's refining, liquefaction, and liquefied natural gas sectors.
Iran has stated that it will launch multibillion-dollar projects in South Pars with the help of its domestic expertise, experience, and financial resources.