Addressing a meeting with the executives of petrochemical
compounds and members of the energy committee of the Iranian parliament, said: “Due
to various reasons, in the past years, sufficient investment has not been made
for gas production and we have not reached the goals foreseen in the sixth
development plan.”
He said the demand for consumption is constantly
increasing in all consumption sectors, including household, power plant and
industries, and on the other hand, a drop in pressure and the subsequent drop
in gas production in the country's gas fields every year is seen.
He pointed out that in these years, due to the
spread of coronavirus and the decrease in economic growth, no significant
investment has been made in the gas industry, and the war between Russia and
Ukraine, along with these factors, has caused a sudden increase in global gas
prices.
“Estimates of the increase in gas prices show that
this situation will take a long time, and the increase in gas production is not
sufficient to meet the demand of consumption, and new investments will take
years to reach fruition,” Mr. Owji went on to add.
Emphasizing that there is a need for significant
investment in Iran due to the imbalance of gas in the cold season, the petroleum
minister said: “In these decades, we have only invested in the upstream sector
of the petrochemical industry while production and export of raw and semi-raw
materials is not economical given the current circumstances. Why should 70% of
petrochemical products be exported in crude and semi-crude form and only 30%
enter the domestic value chain? Our emphasis is that this rate should be
reversed.”