“Gas pipeline network will extend by 1,700 kilometers by March 2022, after development projects are completed in Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad, Khuzestan, Gilan, Hormozgan and Qom provinces,” Majid Chegeni was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
Supplying gas to underprivileged areas is on the company’s agenda and the gas network will cover more subscribers in faraway rural regions, he added.
The length of Iran's gas pipelines was 36,000 km in 2016 and expanded by 1,000 km a year later.
Giving a breakdown on similar ventures, he said NIGC is completing the Bilboland-Ahvaz, Qom–Mohammadiyeh, Rasht-Chalvand, Bidboland-Gachsaran and Gourzin-Bandar Abbas pipelines in Khuzestan, Qom, Gilan, Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad and Hormozgan provinces respectively.
Currently, some 36,000 villages — comprising 85% of rural areas — have access to natural gas and 6,000 more will be added within a year. Expansion of the national gas grid has been made possible because of the rise in gas production.
Domestic gas output has surpassed 1 billion cubic meters per day, a major part of which comes from the giant South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf.
Data indicate 18,000 villages have been connected to the national gas network since 2014.
NIGC says it has invested over $17 billion in natural gas infrastructure since 2013.
Chegeni noted that expanding the gas network to small towns and villages in the southern region, laying gas pipelines and setting up compressor stations are NIGC’s priorities.
There are an estimated 10,000 rural districts (mostly in the underdeveloped Sistan-Baluchestan) that still lack piped gas.