TEHRAN — The National 
Iranian Gas Company has offered and traded about 44 million cubic meters of natural gas for the first time under a retail gas model on the Iran Energy Exchange, NIGC Managing Director Saeid Tavakoli said.
The gas was supplied at the first delivery point in Sabzevar, northeastern Iran, and represents the combined monthly consumption of 21 city gate stations (CGS) stations in the county, Tavakoli said.
The base price was set at 6,211 rials per cubic meter.
Tavakoli said the transaction marked the first offering of gas under the Type 1 gas operator, or retail, model on the Iran Energy Exchange. He said the transaction could help operationalize new gas market mechanisms and increase private-sector participation in the gas supply and consumption chain.
Under the Type 1 model, a retailer receives gas at a designated delivery point and supplies it to end consumers, he said.
The gas operator program was designed to facilitate private-sector participation in consumption management, promote energy efficiency and help reduce the country’s gas imbalance, Tavakoli said.
He described the Sabzevar transaction as an operational step toward establishing a retail gas market in Iran, saying greater transparency in transactions and increased private-sector participation could create new opportunities for managing gas supply and consumption.
Tavakoli also said trading of gas-saving certificates was being pursued on the Iran Energy Exchange alongside the development of the new mechanism.
The price of each cubic meter represented by a peak-period gas-saving certificate recently reached 750,000 rials, he said, adding that the development of such market-based instruments was creating economic value for gas conservation.
The NIGC is pursuing the development of these instruments as part of new consumption-management policies and efforts to tap the economic potential of the market, Tavakoli said.
The approach could turn gas efficiency and conservation into economic opportunities for investors and the private sector while helping curb consumption, he added.