Refineries produce 703 mcm of natural gas, which is about 11% more than the amount produced the same time last year, Mohammad Asgari said.
“This time last year, average natural gas production was 634 mcm a day. It has increased by 69 mcm/d,” the Oil Ministry news agency Shana quoted him as saying.
“The outbreak of the coronavirus has not disrupted the gas production process and the growth pattern continues," the NIGC spokesman added.
The growth is reported along with increase in daily gas refining capacity that has now surpassed one billion cubic meters.
There are plans for raising daily natural gas output to at least 900 mcm in 2021 with the launch of a new refinery next year, which will bring the total number of refineries to 19.
Total gas production was 270 billion cubic meters in 2019 and is projected to reach 330 bcm in fiscal 2021.
Domestic gas consumption is near 600 mcm per day. Iran exports 50 mcm a day of natural gas to Iraq and Turkey.
Sustainable growth in gas production is crucial as the number of subscribers increase every year and the government remains committed to supplying piped gas to the remotest and rugged regions.
In the hot season gas is used largely by thermal power plants, which comprise 85% of electricity generation, to meet high demand as temperatures rise to 50 C in the southern and western regions.
In the first four months of the current year (March 20-July 20), an average of about 210 million cubic meters of natural gas has been delivered to the country's power plants on a daily basis.
In the same period last year, the total supply of gas to power plants was about 24 billion cubic meters, which has increased by 2 bcm this year and the four-month gas delivery to power stations has reached 26 bcm.
Currently, 95 power plants across the country are using natural gas as feedstock.
Iran’s proven reserves of natural gas are 32 trillion cubic meters, according to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy for 2020.
The South Pars/North Dome field shared between Iran and Qatar is the world's largest gas field, covering 3,700 square kilometers of Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. SP is divided into 24 phases. Most of the phases are operational.
Almost 40% of gas in the Middle East is consumed in Iran, an unacceptably high level by any standard. The residential sector is the largest consumer followed by power plants and petrochemical companies.
With a population of 84 million, Iran burns more than 140 billion cubic meters of gas annually.
This is while China, the world’s second-largest economy and the most populous country in the world (about 1.4 billion), consumed 310 billion cubic meters in 2019.
Iran has one of the largest gas networks in the world. 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.
Regarding gas infrastructure, Iran tops the list in Asia and fourth in the world.