SHANA -- A senior Iranian gas official says the country is planning to launch three specialized gas-research institutes in cooperation with leading universities and study centers.

Speaking on the sidelines of a ceremony to launch the Gas Processing Institute of the Research Center of Petroleum Industry (RIPI), Hamid Reza Araghi, the managing director of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), said the new research centers will be launched with technical support provided by leading Iranian universities and study centers like Tehran University and Iran University of Science and Technology.

NIGC's cooperation with the University of Tehran will be focused on mini-LNG technologies while working with the University of Science and Technology will be focused on turbines and intelligent gas measurement using approaches such as the internet of things.

Araghi, who is also deputy petroleum minister for gas affairs, said the three main characteristics of activity at the Gas Processing Institute will be in the fields of sulfur recovery, gas desalination and reduction of gas pollutants, adding: "A series of research activities pursued in cooperation with the NIGC and the universities will be targeted at completing the value chain of gas industry from production to consumption."