Iran’s deputy oil minister for gas affairs said the country’s total gas production will reach 250 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year by the end of the next calendar year in March 2019, while its exports will hit 60 million cubic meters (mcm) per day over the same period, the ministry’s official website Shana reported Tuesday.
The previous Iranian calendar year ended on March 20, and the current fiscal year started on March 21.
The deputy minister Hamidreza Araqi, who is also the head of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), said NIGC provided over 70 percent of the country’s energy and fuel supplies, adding all power plants, industries, exports and household sectors in the country were dependent on natural gas in Iran.
Iran produced 202.4 bcm of natural gas in 2016, marking a year-on-year increase of 6.6 percent, according to British Petroleum's (BP) Statistical Review of World Energy 2017 report.
Araqi said that gas exports would hit 60 mcm per day over the same period once Iran starts exporting gas to Iraq’s Basra.
Natural gas exports averaged 34.8 mcm per day in the first five months of the previous fiscal year compared to 21.3 mcm per day in the corresponding period a year ago, according to a report issued by Iran's official news agency IRNA last September.
The NIGC director also commented on the lingering gas dispute between Iran and Turkmenistan, adding experts would review the matter within the next two months, as agreed by the presidents of the two countries.
"If the two neighbors strike an agreement upon assessments of the experts, the matter will no longer have to be resolved by an international arbiter," he added.
The dispute between Iran and Turkmenistan over a 20-year old gas deal reached its peak in January last year, when Turkmenistan's state gas company, Turkmengaz, halted gas exports to Iran citing arrears of $1.5 billion.
In late December, Turkmenistan took the matter to a court of arbitration, which followed a similar move by Iran.
On Jan. 30, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh said they were filing another complaint with the International Court of Arbitration, adding the figure claimed by Turkmenistan was not correct, and had to be decreased.
Iran holds around 18 percent, or 33.5 trillion bcm, of total proven natural gas reserves globally, ranking first on the list, according to BP's 2017 report. Turkmenistan ranked fourth with 17.5 trillion bcm.
By Hale Turkes
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr