Baku, Azerbaijan, May 5
By Dalga Khatinoglu - Trend:
Iran would capable to export 300-350 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) of gas to its 15 neighbors, Azizollah Ramezani, the director for international affairs department for the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) told Shana on May 5.
He said that currently the country produces 700 mcm/d of (raw) gas in Iran, but the figure would reach 1,200 mcm/d by 2021.
Iranian official added that beside the exist deals with Turkey, Azeraijan, Armenia, Pakistan and Iraq, Iran is in talk with Afghanistan, Oman, Kwait and other Persian Gulf countries to export gas.
Currently Iran exports 27 mcm/d of gas to Turkey, barters about 1 mcm/d with Armenian power, while swaps the same volume with Azerbaijan.
Iran has agreements with Iraq, Oman and Pakistan to export 50 mcm/d, 27 mcm/d and 22 mcm/d respectively to these neighbors.
Ramezani said that for distance markets like India, China and EU, Iran can eyes borth exporting LNG or natural gas through pipeline, but for gaining share in global LNG markets, Iran needs more investment.
Iranian official said that in coming years, Iran would have 200 mcm/d of extra gas from new projects, while the energy consumption optimizing plants would allow Iran to enable export 300-350 mcm/d in coming years. "The domestic market has been gasificated mostly and it would satiate in next years. Significant gas consumption growth is not expected in housing, power plants and industrial sector after several years," he added.
According to the latest statistics of Iran's Oil Ministry, currently natural gas shares 68 percent in Iran's total primary energy consumption.