Al-Monitor | Bijan Khajehpour: With 33.5 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, Iran has the�largest conventional gas reserves�in the world.�Along with its vast oil reserves, it also has sizable, non-associated conventional gas resources that are being developed aggressively. With regard�to exports, however, natural gas has never matched the significance of oil in Iran. Nonetheless, Tehran has�boosted gas production tremendously�in the past few years,�despite sanctions and other challenges.�


Up until 2016, almost all of Iran's�gas production was used for domestic consumption, freeing up more�oil for export. In the meantime, a saturation of domestic utilization has allowed Iran to boost its exports, which are still negligible compared to the resource potential.�Officials recently said that�gas exports grew�by 64% during the period of March 21 to Aug. 22,�2017, compared to the same period in 2016.


According to the��BP Statistical Review of World Energy,��Iran produced 202 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas in 2016. The country�s Ministry of Petroleum envisions�annual gas production of 300 bcm by 2020, which is a reflection of its enormous resource base. Other objectives and priorities are as follows:

 

• remain the third largest gas producer in the world with gas production of 360 bcm per annum by 2025;


• inject gas into the oil fields�to maintain and increase oil production;


• supply gas to power stations, gas-based industries and petrochemicals and to export the value-added products at economically viable prices;


• replace domestic demand for petroleum products with natural gas and maintain the share of gas in Iran�s energy basket above 70%; and


• export gas to the regional countries, the Indian subcontinent and Europe.

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