Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.4 / Trend F.Milad/
Iran has allocated $2 billion to collect associated gas at Kharg and Bahregan oil regions, the deputy oil minister for engineering affairs stated.
Hamdollah Mohammadnejad told the Shana news agency that the sum will be spent to collect 17 million cubic meters of associated gas.
He added that different projects, worth around $500 million, have been developed for collecting up to 99 percent of associated gases.
Some $15 billion cubic meters of associated gas is burnt at Iran's oilfield, bringing the country around $3 billion of loss annually.
Since 2001, Iran's annual imports of gas have been more than exports by nearly 71 billion cubic meters on the average, the Pana news agency reported. Iran is the second major holder of gas deposits in the world.