BP Company: Iran's Gas Production Increased by Six Percent

The British company 'British Petroleum' in its latest annual report on the state of energy production in the world has reported that Iran increased its gas production by 5.7 percent last year. According to this report published on BP's official website, Iran increased its gas production by ten billion cubic meters in 2015, reaching a total of 192.5 billion cubic meters. However, Iran's gas consumption also increased by 6.2 percent, and the country was only able to achieve a net gas export of less than one billion cubic meters. Iran imported 7.2 billion cubic meters of gas from Turkmenistan and exported 7.8 billion cubic meters to Turkey, while also delivering some gas to Armenia. The report adds that the Islamic Republic was unable to find new oil and gas reserves last year, with the country's oil and gas reserves remaining stable at 157.8 billion barrels and 34 trillion cubic meters. On the other hand, Iran reduced its oil product production by 3.8 percent last year. While Iran's daily refining capacity is close to two million barrels, it refined 1.85 million barrels of oil daily last year. Iran's oil production (including crude oil, condensates, and gas liquids) increased by 184,000 barrels last year, reaching 3.92 million barrels per day. This figure was about 4.5 million barrels in 2011, before sanctions. However, after the lifting of sanctions in January of this year, Iran significantly increased its oil production, and Iranian officials claim that they are now producing nearly the same amount as before the sanctions. According to this report, Iran's total energy consumption increased by 2.5 percent last year, exceeding 267 million tons equivalent to crude oil. In this context, natural gas and oil accounted for about 98 percent of the country's total energy consumption. Last year, Iran added 0.8 million tons equivalent to crude oil from hydroelectric power generation, but its nuclear power generation decreased by 0.2 million tons equivalent to crude oil. The country's electric and nuclear power plants produced electricity equivalent to 4.1 million tons and 0.8 million tons of crude oil last year. Meanwhile, Iran consumed about one million barrels equivalent to crude oil in coal. In this context, Iran has a $600 million contract with a Norwegian company for gas exports, facing opposition from some conservatives regarding oil contracts and the government's reaction. Turkey has been operationalizing the construction of seven gas power plants in Iran since early 2017.