Iran's Gas Supply Powers Ahead
Upstream development projects and gas production in Iran have risen sharply in the first three years of Hassan Rouhani’s presidency.
Based on an official report, prepared by Iran’s oil ministry and seen by NGE on June 13, raw gas production from the giant South Pars gas field rose from 235.5mn m3/d in August 2013 to 360.3mn m3/d in 2015 and to 404.6mn m3/d in March 2016.
According to the report, the country’s total raw gas production rose from 581.3mn m3/d in August 2013 to 718.7mn m3/d in 2015 and further increased to 793.7mn m3/d March 2016.
The volume of sweetened gas in the previous Iranian calendar year (March 2015-March 2016) was 175.8bn m3, or 481.6mn m3/d.
South Pars Phases
|
Phases |
August 2013 (%) |
March 2016 (%) |
Mn m³/d at plateau |
Actual/forecast start |
|
Phase 1-10 |
100 |
100 |
250 |
2003-2010 |
|
Phase 11 |
- |
0 |
50 |
2018+ |
|
Phase 12 |
81 |
90.6 |
82 |
2015 |
|
Phases 15-16 |
91.1 |
98.4 |
50 |
2015 |
|
Phases 17-18 |
77.8 |
93.4 |
50 |
2016 |
|
Phase 13 |
63.8 |
75.9 |
50 |
2017+ |
|
Phases 14 |
50.6 |
61.8 |
50 |
2017+ |
|
Phase 19 |
65.3 |
92 |
50 |
2017 |
|
Phases 20-21 |
50.2 |
85.7 |
50 |
2017 |
|
Phases 22-24 |
63.4 |
80.2 |
75 |
2017+ |
Source: Oil ministry
The country exported 23.5mn m3/d of natural gas (to Turkey and Armenia) in the previous year, the report says.
The volume of natural gas supplied to power plants rose from 36.2bn m3 in the year ended in March 2014 to 58bn m3 in the past fiscal year, ended on March 21. The share of liquid fuel fell from 46% in the year ended in March 2014 to 18% in the past fiscal year.
Supplying natural gas to petrochemical complexes rose by 15.4% and 4% in the past two years respectively and reached 15.5bn m3 in last fiscal year.
Supplying natural gas to major industries rose as well, so that it reached 33.14bn m3 in the past fiscal year from 29.75bn m3 in the year to March 2014.
In March 2015-March 216, some 22,300 km of gas supply network were built nationwide, expanding the network to 287,300 km across the country, the report said.
More than 6,200 villages and 60 cities have been supplied with gas between March 2013 and March 2016. Therefore, a total of 1062 cities and 20,408 villages have been supplied with gas by March 2016. It should be mentioned that 2886 villages and 24 cities were supplied with gas in the previous calendar year, ended in March 2016.
By March 2016, some 66% of rural units and 97% of urban units – 90% of total gas supply network – were supplied with gas, and the figure will reach 97% by March 2018.
Dalga Khatinoglu is a Natural Gas Europe expert on Iran's energy sector and head of Trend Agency's Iran news service