Iran’s supply of gas to power plants at record levels

EghtesadOnline: Figures released by the Iranian Oil Ministry’s news service Shana on Monday showed that power plants in the country had received nearly 259 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas on May 4.

Shana said that the supply of gas to large manufacturers across Iran had amounted to over 172 mcm while households and businesses had received more than 213 mcm of gas on the same day.  

The record supply came as Iranian power plants have come under strain in recent days amid a sudden heat wave that has led to a major increase in household and business demand for electricity.

The state electricity company Tavanir said over the weekend that power usage in Iran had peaked at 58.7 gigawatts (GW) on May 1, an increase of 9 GW from the same day in 2024, PressTV reported.

Industry figures show Iranian power plants consume some 79 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year, nearly a third of the country’s total annual gas production.

The same data show that the share of gas in power generation in Iran has increased from 35% in 1985 to 86% in 2022.

That comes as the global power plant demand for natural gas rose from 14% to 23% over the same period.

Iran has been forced to introduce brief power cuts in cities and towns while restricting electricity supplies to large manufacturers to be able to cope with an ever-increasing demand for electricity in recent years.