Speaking at a meeting with members of the Parliament's
Energy Committee on Tuesday, Nov. 3, Bovard thanked the committee for its
support over the past two years and said Iran had been facing energy
supply-demand imbalances for years.
He added that attacks on the country's gas facilities had
resulted in the loss of one-quarter of its gas production capacity.
Bovard said reconstruction work was progressing around the
clock and being closely monitored on a daily basis. He added that funding,
materials and equipment required for the recovery of damaged facilities had
been secured, with no outstanding challenges in these areas.
The acting minister stressed that the reconstruction effort
was being pursued as a national priority, with all departments of the Oil
Ministry working in close coordination to restore damaged infrastructure.
He also emphasized the importance of public cooperation in
managing gas consumption, saying that a 20% reduction in household and
commercial gas use would help the country get through the winter.
Gas network contingency plans developed
Saeed Tavakoli, managing director of the National Iranian
Gas Company (NIGC), outlined the current status of sweet gas production and
progress in rebuilding damaged South Pars gas refineries.
He said the company had developed several crisis-management
scenarios for different conditions to maintain the stability of the national
gas network during the winter. Process optimization measures were also being
implemented alongside reconstruction work at the damaged refineries.
Tavakoli added that intelligent monitoring systems had been
installed in provinces to track network changes in real time and enable
adjustments to gas network operations.
He also announced the signing of 112 contracts with gas
service companies, known as operators, to support consumption management.
According to Tavakoli, relatively simple building
maintenance measures could deliver significant savings. Sealing building
expansion joints could reduce gas consumption by 7%, while servicing boilers
and radiators after three years of operation could cut consumption by 14%.
He further identified the trading of gas-saving certificates
on the stock exchange as another measure to manage demand, noting that the
certificates had reached a price of 840,000 rials during peak consumption.
Winter fuel supplies, reconstruction of war-damaged oil
facilities and energy consumption management were among the main issues
discussed at the meeting between Oil Ministry officials and members of
Parliament's Energy Committee.