Iranian Oil Minister, Javad Oji, announced that he expects a gas shortage of 200 million cubic meters in the cold season.
On the sidelines of the Parliamentary Energy Committee meeting, the Iranian Oil Minister said, on Sunday, September 5, that “with the current trend of natural gas consumption in the country, we expect a deficit of about 200 million cubic meters of gas in the cold season,” and promised that the Oil Ministry would work “On condition that citizens do not suffer from interruption in the domestic sector.”
It is noteworthy that in previous years, Iran also faced severe gas shortages in the cold season, but last year, gas shortages began in Iran in the fall. The government drastically reduces gas supplies to petrochemicals, cement plants and power plants during the cold seasons each year.
According to the Parliament Research Center, last year the government used 6 billion liters of highly polluted fuel oil in power plants due to gas shortages, causing severe air pollution in major cities.
Last year, Iranian power plants also consumed about 11 billion liters of diesel.
A large part of the gas deficit in the cold season is due to the 3-fold increase in domestic gas consumption for heating homes and buildings.
Of the total 233 billion cubic meters of natural gas consumption in 2020, 122 billion cubic meters were the share of domestic, commercial and non-main industries, 24 billion cubic meters were the share of major industries and 66 billion cubic meters of gas were allocated to power plants.
The announcement of possible gas shortages in the cold season comes as Iran in recent months has faced energy production problems, including blackouts, which still persist in many large cities.
The lack of electricity has also reduced the lighting in Tehran metro stations in recent days “in order to reduce energy consumption”; An issue that has also drawn criticism from the citizens of Tehran.
In addition to causing hidden damage in daily life, blackouts have also caused widespread damage to industry.
In the area of hidden damages, we can mention a “30 percent increase” in home appliance repairs in recent months due to power outages, which was mentioned by the head of the Mashhad Electronics Repairers Association.
In the field of industry, the head of the Iranian Steel Producers Association announced, on Monday, September 6, the loss of $6 billion annually in the steel industry due to power outages.
Bahram Sobhani, president of the Steel Producers Association, said the power shortage was not accidental and unexpected, and that “this could be due to poor energy management.”
Source: Iran Intel
