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| Tehran advised not to export gas |
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Monday, August 20, 2007
TEHRAN: An influential research centre of Iranian parliament has sounded a downbeat note on the future of Iran’s gas industry, saying that exports would not be possible in the next 10 years given the scale of domestic consumption.
The warning was supported by Iran’s sacked oil minister on Sunday. “It seems that for at least the next 10 years there will not be any extra gas for export. Iran is advised to remove gas export from the country’s policy due to the limited production capacity,” the panel said. Turkey is currently the only recipient of Iranian gas exports, receiving several billion cubic metres annually.
But Iran is seeking to export large quantities of gas to Turkey and other countries in the Middle East, as well as to India and Pakistan through new pipelines. Iranian media reported on Sunday that Iran’s sacked oil minister had also issued a parting warning to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, predicting a looming “catastrophe” in the Iranian energy sector because of high consumption.
“If we do not find a solution to the energy problem in the next 15 years, the country will face a catastrophe,” Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh was quoted as saying at his farewell ceremony late on Saturday by the ISNA student news agency.
“I am ready to prove that if the fuel situation continues along current trends we will face an energy crisis in the future,” he said. “The current pattern of consumption is a disaster for the country.”
The comments by Vaziri Hamaneh, who also revealed for the first time that he was sacked in a cabinet reshuffle last week, are a stark warning about the energy problems of a country rich in natural resources.
Iran is OPEC’s number two crude oil producer and is also pinning major hopes on its gas reserves, estimated to be the second largest proven reserves in the world after Russia. But frenzied consumption of petrol forces it to import millions of litres per day of refined oil to make up for a domestic shortfall. Wasteful heating methods also create gas shortages in winter.
The government introduced petrol rationing in June in a bid to ease the immense strain on the budget of importing petrol for Iran’s 70 million people, but it is still forced to import huge quantities of petrol daily.
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US to tighten control of Afghan contracts: Gates
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China has stake in Kashmir: Mirwaiz
News Desk
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Attack on policemen in Peshawar
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Sen Lugar’s wife arrested, charged with drinking, hit-and-run
News Desk
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briefs...
Bombers kill 23 in Afghanistan
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ISSN 1563-9479 
