“According to plans, 1,120 km of gas pipelines would be laid and are estimated to cost $525 million,” the Oil Ministry news agency Shana quoted Bahram Salavati as saying.
Another $175 million will be needed to expand the urban gas infrastructure in different cities of the southeastern province, Salavati said.
Iranshahr was the first city in the province that was connected to the natural gas grid. Later construction of a 262km pipeline between Iranshahr and the provincial center Zahedan was completed and cost of $62 million, Financial Tribune reported.
Regarding the Zabol gas pipeline, the official said it would be an extension of the Iran Gas Trunkline 7 that already extends from Asalouyeh in Bushehr Province to Zahedan, pumping natural gas from the major South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf.
As soon as the project is launched in Zabol and Zahedan, the grid will extend to Khash City.
Commenting on the Zabol-Khash project, he said designing of Zabol and Khash gas pipeline has been completed and pipe-laying would start in March.
Zahedan Network
Work on expanding the gas grid and supplying households with gas in Zahedan is underway, head of Sistan-Baluchestan Province Gas Company said.
“Over 750km of pipelines have been laid in Zahedan and close to 25,000 households in the major city are connected to the network,” Reza Panjabi was quoted as saying by Shana.
The city needs a 1,350km gas network, over half of which is in place.
Data from the National Iranian Gas Company show the total number of households using piped gas has increased by 4.5 million in the past four years.
An estimated 3.14 million subscribers in 107 small towns and 11,500 homes in rural areas have joined the list during the period.
Over 39,000 km of high-pressure gas pipelines have been laid across the country and there are plans to extend it to 45,000 km by 2026.
Iran’s natural gas production capacity is 810 million cubic meters per day. This volume, which equals 5 million barrels of crude oil, is used inside the country.
Iran has one of the largest gas networks in the world. The country has 82 gas pressure-boosting stations, 296 turbo compressors and other major installations, which are now in expansion mode.
Regarding gas infrastructure, Iran tops the list in Asia and fourth in the world.
According to the NIGC boss, 98% of the country’s urban population will have access to natural gas by the end of the currency fiscal year (March 2020).
NIGC data show that over 1,100 cities, 24,000 towns and 27,000 villages are linked to the rapidly expanding gas grid.