New Gas Boosting Pressure Stations for IGAT

EghtesadOnline: Eighteen gas boosting pressure stations in Fars, Lorestan, Semnan, Kurdestan and Bushehr have become operational since March 2019 to expand the Iran Gas Trunkline (IGAT), managing director of Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company said.

News ID: ۷۸۵۲۱۵

05 January 2020

“Eight more stations (mostly in Khuzestan Province) are under construction and will go on stream by March,” the Oil Ministry news agency quoted Bahram Salavati as saying.

Not denying the adverse effects of US economic sanctions on Iran’s access to certain materials, he said domestic companies are doing their best to help expand the grid, especially in rural areas by boosting production of special pipes and equipment, Financial Tribune reported.

“Even if we are able to make all the machinery, certain raw materials must be imported,” and this where the problem creeps in projects cannot be completed on time.

According to the official, 400 kilometers of high-pressure pipelines have been laid across the country in the period. Another 117 kilometers will be added by March.

Referring to the ninth Iran Gas Trunkline (IGAT-9), a 56-inch-diameter pipeline stretching from Asalouyeh, crossing Ahvaz, Dehgolan and to Bazargan district in the northwestern province of West Azarbaijan, he said of the total 1,750 km, close to 260 km are in place.

Work started in 2015 on the $3 billion project that is expected to be inaugurated by March 2025. The pipeline can carry 100 million cubic meters of natural gas per day to the northwestern regions near the Turkish border.

Moreover, pipelines have been extended in Fars (IGAT-4), Sistan-Baluchestan and Khorasan Razavi provinces.

Stretching for 1,145 kilometers, IGAT-4 with a capacity of 110 mcm/d, transfers gas from South Pars Gas Field phases 1 to 5 in Assalouyeh to Fars and Isfahan provinces.

Referring to gas metering stations, he said new installations are operational in IGAT-6 which transfers gas from South Pars to the southern and western regions namely Lorestan, Hamedan and Kermanshah provinces.

IGAT is a series of nine large diameter pipelines built to supply gas from refineries in the south (Khuzestan and Bushehr provinces) across the country.

Close to 3,000 small towns and villages are connected to the grid annually and 80% of rural regions now have access to piped gas.

Iran's natural gas grid has expanded to 390,000 kilometers in three decades.