TEHRAN - The Iranian government has approved some $1 billion worth of investment for new development projects in the country’s natural gas sector.
The government funding for high-priority gas projects had been approved in a meeting earlier in the day chaired by Iranian Vice-President Muhammad Mokhber, Iran’s semi-official IRNA news agency reported.
The report said senior members of the Iranian parliament as well as officials from the Iranian Oil Ministry attended the meeting that was held to finalize the projects.
It said that the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) have defined the projects as key to the expansion of the downstream gas sector in Iran, including in plans to boost production from gas fields and refineries and to expand gas transfer and storage capacity in the country.
Iran has continued to build outs its massive oil and gas sector in recent years despite facing a raft of American sanctions that have blocked the country’s access to foreign investment and technology.
That comes as sanctions have hit Iran’s oil revenues which have normally been a main source of financing new oil and gas projects in the country.
Iran aims to increase its gas production by some 50% within the next seven years to reach a daily output target of 1.5 billion cubic meters per day.
The state-run NIGC has also plans to further expand a nationwide pipeline network that spans over 37,000 kilometers as it seeks to supply natural gas to towns in hard-to-reach regions of Iran as well as to all Iranian villages that are inhabited by more than 20 households.