Iran starts imposing restrictions on gas supply to industries

Iran has started imposing restrictions on natural gas supply delivered to industries amid a cold snap that has caused a sudden increase in demand for heating across the country.

The semi-official Fars news agency said in a report on Tuesday that authorities in the central province of Yazd, where some of the largest Iranian steel producers are based, had imposed cuts to gas supplies delivered to industrial units.

The report showed that industries in the province were required to cut their consumption of natural gas by 20% per day starting on October 29.

That came as the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said on Tuesday that demand for natural gas in the country’s household, business and small industries sector had reached an average of 405 million cubic meters (mcm) per day in the week to October 28.

NIGC’s CEO Saeid Tavakoli said that the figure was unprecedented for late October days.

He said, however, that there was no problem with the normal supply of natural gas in Iran, especially in the country’s northern half where people normally experience lower temperatures in autumn and winter months.

Iran is one of the largest producers and consumers of natural gas in the world with a daily production of nearly 1 billion cubic meters of raw gas and a total demand that hits more than 750 mcm per day in winter months.

The country relies on gas from South Pars, a large gas field shared with Qatar in the Persian Gulf, for a bulk of its demand.

The NIGC normally orders cuts to industrial supplies in November and December to prevent any shortages in the Iranian household sector.

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