While the potential for an oil bonanza has grabbed headlines in the wake of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers, there's an equal need to bring in outside expertise and finance to develop the country's natural gas industry, a key driver of the Islamic republic's economy. Iran has boosted gas production fivefold over the past 20 years to about 16.7 billion cubic feet per day (173 billion cubic meters per year) in 2014. Almost all is used domestically to fire power plants, feed key industries such as petrochemicals, and inject into some of the country's depleting, mature oil fields. Despite the impressive capacity buildout, Tehran has nonetheless struggled to keep up with demand. "Iran's gas consumption has increased dramatically. This rate of growth has been second only to China and has made Iran the world's fourth biggest gas consumer behind the US, Russia and China," analysts at Fitch Ratings say.
展开▼
