“We have pledged to deliver CNG to Zabol and Khash in this year’s second half, which I hope we can fulfill,” Hamidreza Araqi was also quoted as saying by ISNA on Friday.
CNG is made by compressing natural gas (which is mainly composed of methane) to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers usually in cylindrical or spherical shapes.
According to Araqi, CNG delivery is a temporary measure to provide gas for underprivileged cities until the main plan to supply natural gas to consumers via pipelines is implemented, Financial Tribune reported.
Stressing that to implement the natural gas delivery plan, pipelines worth $450 million have been laid in the region, the official called on private entities to play a more active role in this regard, as some houses cannot receive natural gas due to their dilapidated structures. Araqi, who also is a deputy oil minister, noted that in the near future, the remaining segments of the province’s gas pipeline will be laid, expressing optimism that most of the cities in Sistan-Baluchestan would be connected to the grid by 2021.
“NIGC has announced that it will supply gas to all parts of Zahedan in three years, if it faces no hurdle,” he said.
Pointing to the 265 kilometers of Iranshahr-Zahedan gas pipeline inaugurated in March 2017, the official said the pipeline to Zabol branches off from the Zahedan pipeline and domestic contractors played a key role in implementing the plan.
The new pipeline is an extension of Iran Gas Trunkline 7 that has already been extended from Asalouyeh in Bushehr Province to Zahedan, pumping natural gas from the giant South Pars Gas field in the Persian Gulf.
Araqi said CNG transportation is an efficient and cost-effective means of gas supply to remote and deprived regions, notably Sistan-Baluchestan Province.
According to the report, the main goal of the Oil Ministry is to link 96% of Iran’s population to the national gas network by completing underway plans to deliver natural gas to rural and urban areas in the next three years.
Saeed Momeni, NIGC's director for gas distribution, told Shana in April that 1,110 cities, 720 villages and 81 power plants have already been connected to the national gas grid and plans are underway to provide 21,000 more industrial units with gas by the end of the current fiscal year.