TEHRAN (PIN) – National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Managing Director Seyyed Reza Kassaeizadeh here Monday said the country’s current gas reserves were tantamount to 176 billion barrels of crude oil.

He made the statement in the 12th IIES International Oil and Gas Conference dubbed “Developments in Geopolitics of Energy and the Role of Natural Gas”.
The NIGC head said Iran’s gas reserves surpassed its oil deposits that now stood at 136 billion barrels.
Kassaeizadeh said Iran was the world’s second-largest holder of gas reserves as it owned 15.5 percent of its deposits.
“Based on a comprehensive plan on gas output and consumption, Iran is predicted to have 19.44 trillion cubic meters of commodity in 2024,” said the top official.
He added Iran was currently producing 115 billion cubic meters of gas, ranking fourth in the world and standing after Russia, the United States, and Canada.
Kassaeizadeh expressed his satisfaction with desirable increase in domestic refining capacity in the recent years, saying the capacity reached 440 million cubic meters per day in 2006 from 189 million cubic meters in 1999.
“Natural gas market is now the second-largest energy market in the world as oil market is the biggest,” said the NIGC managing director, adding the international gas market was influenced by Russia and Canada that now held 20 and 13 percent shares of it by exporting 151 and 100 billion cubic meters of energy carrier respectively.
Despite its huge gas deposits, Iran was not playing an active role in the export market, regretted the official, adding the country exported 5.6 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey through pipeline in the previous year.
Kassaeizadeh said, “At present, 25 percent of Iran’s gas output is consumed by the industrial sector, 33 percent by power plants, and the remaining part by commercial and household sectors.”
He said Iran was planning to export gas to Turkey, Armenia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, India, and Europe, adding some of the projects were underway while some would come on stream soon and some were under negotiation.
The NIGC chief said natural gas liquefaction was also top on agenda, arguing that export of natural gas was a way to gain revenue, develop international relations, establish energy security, and boost logical transactions.
“Holding rich natural gas reserves, Iran finds itself duty-bound to help establish security for the world energy sector,” he said.
Kassaeizadeh underlined the necessity to set up a regional energy network and expand deals, political, social, and economic ties.
“Regional energy grid will help establish peace and stability in the region,” stressed the official, voicing Iran’s readiness to transit import- and export-bound products and balance energy.
In 2005, the share of gas in the world’s energy basket stood at 25 percent, said the NIGC managing director, predicting the figure would surpass 40 percent in 2025.
He said Iran’s far distance from consumer countries, financial supply, state-of-the-art technology, lack of integrated management system, and high consumption were challenges facing Iran’s gas exports.
Kassaeizadeh underlined the need to make huge investments in building infrastructures in downstream and upstream industries, forecasting that the two sectors would need 132 and 170 billion dollar investments by the end of 20-Year Vision Plan respectively.