TEHRAN – Head of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said that optimizing the engine rooms of the residential and commercial buildings across the country is going to save 500 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas every year, Shana reported.

Speaking in the unveiling ceremony of a national program for optimizing the engine rooms of residential and commercial units on Tuesday, Hassan Montazer Torbati said: “Optimizing energy consumption is not the responsibility of the Oil Ministry and the National Gas Company and this issue should be pursued by consumers such as power plants and industries.

“Regardless, this issue is very important because despite the development of South Pars, this field alone cannot meet the country’s consumption needs and if consumption is not controlled gas supply will be interrupted,” he said.

That is why, since the beginning of this Iranian year (March 2020), in the meetings with the Oil Minister, it was decided for the ministry to also enter the area of optimization and use the ministry’s capacities to optimize the consumption in engine rooms, the official added.

Torbati further noted that the implementation of this program is not time-consuming, and it will also be done free of charge for building owners and will also reduce their gas bills.

"Our social responsibility dictated that we enter the issue, and by doing so, both fuel consumption will be reduced and the environment will be protected," he stressed.

According to the official, the Oil Ministry has created a website in which those who are willing for their engine rooms to be optimized would register and their buildings will be subsequently assessed and optimized as soon as possible.

Iran’s daily natural gas consumption increased 28 percent earlier this month due to the sudden decline in the temperature across the country.

The daily natural gas consumption by households and the commercial sector reached 253 million cubic meters (mcm) in early October.

EF/MA