Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 16 / Trend F.Mehdi/
Eighty nine percent of houses in Iran have been supplied with natural gas, IRNA quoted Mohammad-Reza Gharavi, an official with the National Iranian Gas Company, as saying.
"Over 937 cities and 13,150 villages are currently connected to the national gas grid," he noted.
Also, over 10,600 large industrial units and 42,500 small businesses have been supplied with gas.
During the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year, 107 billion cubic meters of gas was consumed in the country, he added.
Managing Director of National Iranian Gas Company Jawad Owji said this year the highest gas consumption in the country has been recorded, and urged people to use gas more efficiently.
Owji issued a warning to gas consumers, noting that the government has granted a permission to the NIGC to monitor domestic gas usage, and in case of necessity - to take appropriate measures.
"If during monitoring we reveal that a particular gas consumer uses a lot of gas, then a warning will be issued, and if there's no response after that, then we will cut the gas supply to that user for 48 hours," Owji said.
He said that on average, gas consumption in Iran is 18 times more than in Japan, 10 times more than in European countries, and 8 times more than in the US.
Deputy director of National Iranian Gas Company Mostqafa Kashkouli said in October that Iran's gas consumption will reach 600 million cubic meters per day in the upcoming winter.
Daily gas production in Iran is about 600 million cubic meters, and this is projected to increase to 1.2 billion cubic meters in the future.
According to the National Iranian Gas Company, the country's oil and natural gas reserves account for 10 percent and 16 percent of total world reserves, respectively.
With 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, Iran has the world's second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia.
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