Tehran, Iran, November 4
By Mehdi Sepahvand -- Trend:
Iran is eyeing opportunities to optimize its domestic fuel consumption, therefore it has allocated a large sum of investment in this area.
Out of $185 billion in projects to attract foreign investment in the coming five years, as identified by the Ministry of Petroleum, $25 billion is to be directed to energy optimization projects, Deputy Oil Minister in International Affairs Amir Hossein Zamaninia said, Iranian newspapers reported.
Zamaninia said he regretted that the intensity in consumption in the country is much higher than what it should be.
"In our country each day, 700 million cubic meters of gas is produced. But about that entire amount is consumed inside the country. As a result, Iran, which is the first country in the world in gas reserves, consumes 10 times the gas Japan does, and it has a small share of the world's fuel basket," he said.
Meanwhile, he noted, the investment will be paid back very quickly.
"If we manage consumption, we can become an exporter much sooner. According to plans, the production of gas grows on a daily basis. In five years, LNG projects will also be completed. We will be able to export gas to neighboring countries via pipelines, as well," Zamaninia stated.
Iran consumes approx. 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent (OE) annually, with more than 20 percent of this being wasted before reaching consumers. Iran's annual total primary energy consumption stands at 1.6 billion barrels of OE, of which natural gas and oil shares stand at 67 and 33 percent, respectively.
Mohammad Mirzaei, Head of Equipment and Housing Sector at the Fuel Conservation Organization, affiliated with Iran's oil ministry, told Trend on Sep.16 that Iran plans to halve its energy use by 2021, while the required investment to achieve this goal is estimated at $200 billion.
Iran plans to optimize 600,000 engine rooms. Some 20 million heaters are active in Iran, consuming 1500 cubic meters annually, on average. Meanwhile, Iranian households consume 91 bcm/a of natural gas, which constitute 50 percent of total gas usage.