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Iran reduces gas injection to oilfields

Business Materials 12 January 2015 15:46 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 12

By Umid Niayesh - Trend:

Iran has reduced gas injection to old oilfields to compensate for a gas shortage, Gholam Hossein Babadi, an official with the National Iranian South Oil Company said, the country's Fars news agency reported Jan. 12.

"We cut down the injection and delivered more gas to our national gas company, Babadi said, adding, the decision was made to resolve the thermal power plants' gas shortage problem and decrease their dependency on liquid fuels during the cold season.

The decrease in gas injection to Iranian oilfields, which are mostly in the second half-life will reduce Iran's capability to increase oil production.

About 180 million cubic meters of gas should be injected into Iranian old oilfields each day, while according to the US Energy Information Administration, Iran has injected about 12.6 percent of its produced gross gas into oil wells, which was some 77.5 million cubic meters per day in 2012.

There is not any recent official statistics about gas injection to old oilfields however according to the latest official statements Iran produces 660 million cubic meters (mcm) of enriched gas, of which 575 mcm is refined and 35 mcm is supplied to petrochemical plants. Therefore, Iran has only 50 mcm to inject to oilfields.

The Islamic Republic faced severe gas shortages last winter. In addition to cutting the gas supply to power plants, which led to burning of $30 billion worth liquid fuels, the Iranian government had to decrease gas delivery to petrochemical plants, gas injection to old oil fields and industrial sector.

Follow the author on Twitter: @UmidNiayesh

Edited by CN

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