Work is underway to build and lay pipelines to supply gas to more cities and power plants, ISNA reported Hassan Montazer-Torbati as saying.
The projects are in line with efforts to provide the remote and deprived regions with natural gas.
“Construction of the 262km pipeline between Iranshahr City and the provincial capital Zahedan has been completed at a cost of $62.5 million,” he said, adding that expansion of the grid to other cities of the vast province has started, according to Financial Tribune.
Iranshahr was the first city in the province connected to the natural gas grid. Now more than 23,000 households in Zahedan are connected to the network, he noted.
Reportedly, more than 4,000 subscribers have been added to the natural gas grid in Zahedan since 2017 and 32 more villages will join the network in the near future.
Underscoring the need and significance of developing the national gas infrastructure, the official said as the network expands so will gas supply to urban areas from distant refineries.
Referring to the Zabol gas pipeline, he noted that it will be an extension of the Iran Gas Trunkline 7 that already extends from Asalouyeh in Bushehr Province to Zahedan, pumping natural gas from the giant South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf.
As soon as the venture is launched in Zabol and Zahedan, the grid will extend toward Khash.
Commenting on the Zabol-Khash project, he said the design of Zabol and Khash gas pipelines has been completed and pipe-laying work, estimated to cost $450 million, will commence by next March.
Gas for Power Plants
“Besides expanding the urban gas network, the connection of power plants to the national grid is on NIOC’s to-do list to curb consumption of liquid fuel and air pollution,” Montazer-Torbati said.
So far, of the six power plants in the province, three are linked to the gas grid.
Referring to connection of the 225 MW Zahedan Power Plant to the gas grid, the NIOC boss said: “Eight units of the plant are connected to the network consuming 1.4 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, helping save the same volume oil products including mazut and diesel”.
Iranshahr Thermal Power Plant and Bampour Combined-Cycle Power Plant are linked to the gas network, and together consume 3.1 mcm of natural gas per day.
NIGC figures show that the total number of household gas subscribers has increased by 4.5 million in the past four years.
An estimated 3.14 million subscribers from 107 small towns and 11,500 subscribers in rural areas have been added to the grid during the period.
Over 36,000 kilometers of high-pressure gas pipelines have been laid in different parts of the country and there are plans for extending it to 45,000 km by 2026.