TEHRAN, Aug 01 (Shana) � Minister of Industries, Mines and Trade Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh said on Monday that the Iranian gas industry is now indigenized because vast majority of its equipment is made inside the country.

Nematzadeh made the remark in an address to the ceremony marking the 50th Anniverary of Establishemnt of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC).

Nematzadeh said, "Thanks to efforts of Ministry of Petroleum in different sectors like exploration, drilling, platform construction and the offshore and onshore pipeline laying, we have gained considerable success and we can even claim that we are competing with many other countries of the region in the areas."

He shifted to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and said one of its outcomes had been expansion of foreign investment in the country to the extent that in the first three months of this year (started on March 20), there were several cases of foreign investment in the industry.

He said now, many of the country's gas refineries have extreme potential and the peripheral services and equipment of majority of them are provided by Iranian companies.

The Minister said his ministry has good cooperation with Ministry of Petroleum and the NIGC and the cooperation and ties can expand more.

To the end of his remarks, he said 38 percent of the world gas is consumed by the industry sector and in Iran 26 percent of the gas is consumed in the industry sector.

"I believe such a God given energy should be consumed more in the industry. Gas is a valuable blessing for people but we should be careful with its consumption because energy waste today is at a high level in Iran."

By SHANA