Tehran, Iran, Jan. 17
By Kamyar Eghbal – Trend:
Iran hopes to boost its gas exports by 170 percent over the next four years.
Amirhossein Zamaninia, Iranian deputy oil minister for international affairs, has said the country would be capable of exporting 100 million cubic meters of gas per day by 2023.
“Our gas exports within four years will surely reach 100 million cubic meters per day,” he told Trend.
Iran’s exports of gas over the first eight months of the current fiscal year (started March 20) reached 37 million cubic meters per day, the deputy minister said.
Zamaninia further added that the country plans to use LNG technology in order to enter the international gas market.
Iran signed first ever contract to export natural gas form of LNG (liquefied natural gas) in October 2017.
Under the contract, Iran’s natural gas is expected to be converted to LNG in a floating LNG vessel (FLNG), belonging to Belgium's Exmar.
The vessel, Caribbean FLNG, which is chartered by IFLNG company, will have a capacity to produce 500,000 tons of LNG per year.
The 20-year contract is expected to come into force in late February 2018.
Launching FLNG and mini-LNG facilities will help Iran to diversify and expand its natural gas market, and take advantage of being the world’s largest natural gas holder.