TEHRAN- Despite the unprecedented increase in natural gas consumption in the country, the gas industry was able to register a record high in terms of gas supplying during the peak consumption period in winter.

National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) and all its subsidiaries were seriously working in a few months before the winter to ensure the sustained supply of gas during the cold season.

Having the biggest network in the region, Iran is one of the leading countries in terms of gas accessibility, and in this regard, making sure that this access stays uninterrupted during the pick consumption periods is a top priority for NIGC.

All the NIGC’s endeavors made in this regard last year bore fruits, because despite the high growth of gas consumption in the country over the past year, the company managed to supply gas to different areas in a successful way.

It should be considered that at the beginning of the previous winter, Mohammadreza Julaei, the dispatching director of NIGC, had announced that the daily gas consumption in the country had risen 55 million cubic meters (mcm), as compared to the same time of its previous year.

Also at that time, NIGC Head Hassan Montazer Torbati said, “Gas consumption has reached the alarming stage and 80 percent of the country's gas is consumed in the domestic sector”; so, he called on all people to economize on the gas consumption, because for each degree of temperature reduction in heating systems, the amount of production of one phase of South Pars gas field is saved.

In any case, despite this unprecedented consumption, the country's gas industry was able to pass winter successfully, and the NIGC head announced in the last days of winter (mid-March) that his company had done its job well in supplying and transferring gas continuously during the winter.

The development of gas supply in winter, despite the cold weather, not only did not stop, but was pursued more rapidly.

Meanwhile, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, in a report to the president, announced that 95 percent of the Iranian people benefit from natural gas.

While several projects conducted during the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20) ensured non-stop gas supply throughout the country, a number of more projects are supposed to expand gas supply even more in this year.

A major area seriously under focus in this due is gas supply to the rural areas.

The government has proposed to allocate 15 trillion rials (about $357.14 million) for the supply of natural gas to over 8,000 villages across the country in the present year.

The mentioned budget will be spent on new gas supply projects in rural areas, and for the completion of semi-finished gas supply projects across the county with Sistan-Balouchestan, Hormozgan, South Khorasan, and Kerman provinces, as well as Khour and Biabanak cities, being the priorities.

Currently, over 32,000 villages across Iran are enjoying natural gas through the national network and the number is planned to reach 40,000 by the end of this Iranian year (March 2022).