The National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) says five more power plants in the country will be supplied with natural gas by the end of this year.
NIGC’s head of gas supply Jalal Nour Mousavi said on Tuesday that three power plants in the Iranian cities of Zanjan in the north, Kerman in the southeast and the island of Qeshm in the Persian Gulf will start to burn gas to generate electricity by early May.
Nour Mousavi said that natural gas pipelines will reach a major power plant in Andimeshk in southwest Iran in late July.
He said a final electricity station in Chabahar, Iran’s only ocean port on the Sea of Oman, is planned to be supplied with natural gas over the autumn.
Iran has supplied natural gas to dozens of its power plants in recent years as the country seeks to cut back on emissions in the electricity sector and to redirect fuels like diesel and mazut for exports to other countries.
Experts say that increased gas supply to power plants has boosted productivity in electricity stations while improving the reliability of the power grid in Iran.
Iran has massively increased its natural gas production despite being subject to a series of sanctions that hamper its access to foreign technology and investment.
The country is currently third in the world in terms of the natural gas output at nearly 1 billion cubic meters per day.
A report by the official IRNA news agency on Tuesday said that the number of power plants connected to the nationwide gas pipeline network in Iran had reached 87 in February.
Source: Agencies (edited by Al-Manar English Website)
