Iran Starts Gas Exploration Near Turkmenistan Border

Iran has begun exploration operations at Sufikom region, located in the Gorgan plain, neighbouring Turkmenistan, aiming to find new gas reserves, a company has said.

Yousef Etemadi, director for exploration at Iran’s Khazar Oil Company, said exploration operations officially kicked off on December 15 by the drilling rig number 56 of the National Iranian Drilling Company, Shana news agency reported on December 16.

Two years ago, Khazar Oil Company conducted seismic operations across 1,200 square kilometres of the region, he added.

“According to the plan, we have planned to conduct drilling down to 2,400 metres depth and are hoping to complete the operations within 130 days,” he explained.

“However, there is no certainty of discovering new reserves. This is just a probability and we should wait to see the results.”

Iran imported some 6.5 million cubic metres of gas from Turkmenistan last year, according to BP.

Hamid Reza Araqi, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company, said on December 12 that by producing 173 billion cubic metres of natural gas and consuming the same amount, Iran was the fourth biggest producer and consumer of gas in the world in 2014.

“There are 10 gas refining complexes operating in the country with an annual output of 260 billion cubic metres. Meanwhile, over 10 cross-country pipelines, totalling about 36,000 kilometres, are transferring gas nationwide,” he explained.

Iran plans to boost its gas output to 1 billion cubic metres per day within the next 2 years.

Iran’s current raw gas output stands at 700 million cubic metres per day.