Baku, Azerbaijan, March 10
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran has injected averagely 93 million cubic meters of gas per day to old oilfields since the beginning of current fiscal year (started on March 21, 2014).
It is while over 150 million cubic meters of gas should be injected on daily basis to the country's oilfields according to the Islamic Republic's Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2010-2015).
The predicted figure is vital to prevent pressure fall and maintain the output in oil fields which are mostly in their second half-life.
Gas injection to oilfields has increased by one billion cubic meters during the current year, compared to last fiscal year (ended March 21, 2014), Hassan Montazer Torbati, the National Iranian Gas Company's Secretary of Planning said, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported March 10.
The country injected averagely 90 million cubic meters of gas each day into the old oilfields in the last fiscal year.
Meanwhile Gholam Hossein Babadi, an official with the National Iranian South Oil Company said Jan 12 that Iran has reduced gas injection to old oilfields to compensate for a gas shortage.
"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 Islamic Republic faced severe gas shortages last winter. In addition to cutting the gas supply to power plants, which led to burning of 27 billion liters of liquid fuels, the Iranian government had to decrease gas delivery to petrochemical plants, gas injection to old oil fields and industrial sector.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, Iran 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.
Follow the author on Twitter: @UmidNiayesh