Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 16
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran consumed 170.64 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas during the past 360 days since the beginning of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21, 2014).
Naser Ebrahimi, director for gas supply at the National Iranian Gas Company said that 46.32 bcm of gas was delivered to power plants, Iran's Shana news agency reported March 16.
Meanwhile, 29.8 bcm of gas was supplied to industrial units over the 360-day period, he noted.
Moreover, 89.28 bcm of gas was supplied to residential and commercial units, he added.
According to the latest statistics, Iran is producing 666 mcm/d of raw gas, imports 7.5 bcm/d of gas from Turkmenistan, and exports 10 bcm/d to Turkey.
Since fall, Iran has re-extracted 19.8 mcm/d from gas storage facilities.
The average raw gas production during the 2014 was 637 mcm/d, indicates a 90-mcm/d increase year-to-year, mostly since summer. In Iranian fiscal year, the country's raw gas production level increased by 100 mcm/d to 666 mcm/d.
Last winter Iran faced a 160 mcm/d of gas shortage, which led to stopping gas supplement to petrochemical plants, power plants and industrial units. During the current year, Iran increased production levels significantly, but not at a level that could stop the gas shortage completely. The figures show that Iran has decreased delivering gas to power plants and industrial sector since fall, compared to the warm months.