Iran Plans to Raise Gas Output to 330 bcm by 2017

Iran plans to increase its annual production of natural gas to 330 billion cubic meters (bcm) by 2017, an official with National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said.

Managing Director of NIGC Hamid-Reza Araqi said on Friday that the country’s oil output will reach 330 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year by 2017.

He made the remarks in the International Gas Union’s Utilization Committee Meeting, which began in Tehran on Monday and came to an end on Friday, Hellenic Shipping News reported.

Araqi further said that Iran also plans to reclaim its previous position in the global gas market through putting five Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects into operation by the next three years.

Iran is currently exporting gas to Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan and will start gas exports to Iraq in the near future. The country now produces about 600 million cubic meters of gas per day.

Earlier, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said the country aims to nearly double gas production to reach one billion cubic meters (bcm) per day in less than two and a half years.