By Dalga Khatinoglu
Iran's primary energy consumption reached 4.428 million barrels of oil equivalent per day during the last fiscal year (ended on March 20, 2015).
There is not any accurate figure about the current fiscal year, but the details of energy consumption indicates a slight increase, compared to the previous year.
The latest National Iranian Oil, Refinery and Distribution Company's (NIORDC) report indicates a 4.7-percent increase in the country's energy consumption year-to-year.
The report says the country consumed 84 billion liters of liquid fuels with worth $48 billion as well as 172.3 billion cubic meters of gas.
|
Liquid fuel consumption |
2014/2015 (Million Liters/day) |
Y/Y change (%) |
|
Gasoline |
69.591 |
1.7% |
|
Kerosene |
10.059 |
-15.5% |
|
Diesel |
100.158 |
-5% |
|
Mazut |
36.69 |
-27.7% |
|
Natural gas |
472 mcm/d |
12% |
Gasoline
Iran produced about 59.6 million liters of gasoline per day, while the consumption level was 69.6 million liters during last fiscal year.
Coming to the current year, Iran consumed 71 million liters per day of gasoline, of which 12 percent (8.8 million liters per day) was imported during 10 months of current fiscal year.
in 2006, Iran's gasoline consumption experienced decline, after steady increase during last years. The reason was soaring CNG production in the country, which replaced gasoline in more than 3 million bi-fuel vehicles.
During last year, Iran produced 19.1 mcm/d of CNG, remained almost unchanged to 2012. As the statistics indicate, gasoline consumption growth re-started steady rising after CNG production growth stopped in 2012.
Natural Gas
During last fiscal year(FY), Iran's natural gas consumption also increased by 12 percent year-to-year and reached 472 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d), of which 29 percent was consumed by power plants, 19 percent by industrial sectors and 52 percent in housing sector (including non-major industrial sectors).
Coming to current year, the country's net gas export remained unchanged and the refined gas production level reached 145 bcm in 10 months of FY, about 6 percent more than the same period in last year. Therefore, the country used 8.7 bcm more gas during this period.
Iran's gas refining capacity is above 550 mcm/d, while the country uses more refining capacity in winter than summer due to soaring consumption level volume in cold seasons.
It's expected Iran's refined gas production capacity to stand about 175-180 bcm during current FY, far less than the projected growth (30 bcm).
Recently, Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that only $1.7 billion investment was put in South Pars during current year, 5 times less than the planned figure.
Other energy carriers
The country's diesel production also was 96 million liters per day in last FY, about 4 million letters less than consumption level.
However, Iran had above 31.3 million liters of extra fuel oil (mazut) for export or bunkering per day last year.
While 27 percent of Iranian refineries' output is mazut, the country has a plan to decrease fuel oil production by 2 percent annually to curb the production entirely in the coming years.
Shahabeddin Mataji, director for planning at the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) told Shana on Jan.7 that Iran produces 68 million liters per day of fuel oil, of which 37.5 million liters was consumed domestically.
The country also produced 10 million liters per day of kerosene,15 percent less than the previous year. The country's kerosene production level decreased by 2.14 times during last ten year.
Iran's LPG production also surpassed the consumption level for the first time in history. Iran is liquefied butane and propane exporter, but coming to liquefied petroleum gas, the country produced 5,656 tons per day during last FY, about 34 tons more than the consumption level.
Iran's total primary energy consumption experienced a huge increase during the last several decades, especially after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
According to National Iranian Oil Refining & Distribution Company (NIORDC) statistics, the primary energy consumption was around 500 million barrels of oil equivalent (OE), but the figure increased to 2.7 billion barrels of OE in 2000 and jumped to 4 billion barrels of OE in 2009.
* Energy intensity (Barrel per 1 million rials)
* Energy productivity (1000 rials per barrel)
The share of gas in the total primary energy consumption reached 69 percent by March 21, 2015, while this figure was 50 percent in 2000 and 15 percent in 1980.
With regards to liquid fuels, Iran refined 1.802 million barrels per day (mb/d)of crude oil during last fiscal year, about 57,000 barrels per day less that the previous year.
Dalga Khatinoglu is an expert on Iran's energy sector and head of Trend Agency'sIran news service
