Tehran, Iran, March 14
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Foreign investment is an indispensable part of any development in Iran's gas industry, according to Hassan Montazer Torbati, CEO of Iran Gas Engineering and Development Co.
According to Iran's Sixth Development Plan (2017-2022), the country needs 5,000 kilometers of pipeline as well as 25 pressure boost stations, Torbati said, SHANA news agency reported March 14.
He underlined that the company currently has worth 120 trillion rials (about $4 billion, at current exchange rate) of projects underway.
By the end of the plan, Iran should have had introduced 100 billion rials worth of new projects each year, he asserted.
"This is while the domestic resources can only provide 30 billion rials per year. Therefore, there is no way but to use foreign investments," he concluded.
BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2015 shows that Iran possesses the world's largest proven natural gas reserves, at 34 trillion cubic meters - or 18.2 percent of the world's total proven reserves.
Despite having the world's biggest gas reserves, Iran only shared 5 percent of global natural gas production, at 172.6 billion cubic meters in 2014 (excluding recycled and flared gas), according to the report.
