Iran’s state gas company the NIGC says domestic demand for natural gas is expected to increase by around 6% this winter.
NIGC’s head of dispatching operations Mohammad Reza Joulayi said on Tuesday that demand for natural gas had hit an all-time record of 720 million cubic meters (mcm) per day over the cold winter days last year.
Joulayi said household and business sector demand for gas could reach nearly 700 mcm per day over the winter months.
Iran is the third largest producer of gas in the world after the United States and Russia but it is also the fourth largest global consumer after the US, Russia and China.
The country has ramped up output from its giant gas reserve in the south in recent years but increased demand from households and businesses, especially in northern regions, has forced the government to consider imports from Russia or Turkmenistan. That comes as Iran is also a major exporter of gas through pipelines to Turkey and Iraq.
Joulayi said progress had been made in gas import talks although he would not elaborate on more details.
Another official at the National Iranian Gas Company said on Tuesday that Iran’s gas production had increased by some 4 billion cubic meters (bcm) over the six months to late September compared with the same period last year.
Ahmad Zamani, who leads NIGC’s production coordination and supervision department, said current output from Iranian gas fields is around 1 bcm per day of which some 840-850 mcm is turned into sweet gas and supplied to the Iranian gas grid for consumption in various sectors.