Iran’s share of 42% of gas consumption in the Middle East/production of 6% of the world’s gas in Iran
According to IRNA, the share of gas in the fuel basket of the world and of course Iran has increased in recent years, and according to the scenarios that are proposed until 2050, although the share of oil in the world’s fuel basket will decrease, but gas will increase.
Therefore, for at least the next 30 years, gas will maintain its position as one of the most important fuels in the world; Therefore, it is very important to pay attention to the production and consumption of this fuel.
In 2021, due to the relative control of Corona with the increase in vaccination in the world, the demand for gas increased by 4% and reached over 4 thousand billion cubic meters.
The biggest increase in demand happened in China and due to the limited possibility of gas transmission through the pipeline route, China emerged as the largest importer of LNG (liquefied natural gas).
According to the US Energy Information Administration last year, gas demand in Europe also increased by 3%. With the beginning of 2022, but with the war between Russia and Ukraine and the relative limitation of Russian gas exports to Europe, the amount of gas reserves in Europe reached the lowest level in the last 5 years.
This reduction was to such an extent that the head of the International Energy Agency announced that if Russia stops gas exports, Europe’s gas consumption in the winter season should be reduced by 30%.
However, the trend of gas consumption in other parts of the world will continue to rise.
Statistics show that out of the total of 4 thousand billion cubic meters of gas produced in the world, America has allocated 23% of it. After the United States, Russia ranks second with 16% of the world’s gas production, and Iran ranks third in the world’s gas production with a share of 6%.
After Iran, there are China and Qatar with a share of 5 and 4 percent, respectively.
In terms of consumption, America and Russia have taken the first and second places. However, the third largest consumer of gas in the world is China, and Iran ranks fourth.
Meanwhile, Iran ranks fourth in consumption, which has a significant distance compared to the first 3 gas consuming countries in terms of population, size, and economic growth.
Although Iran produces 36% of gas in the Middle East region, it has a share of 42% in consumption.
Therefore, although Iran has a high production capacity in natural gas, but instead of relying on this capacity to increase its share in the world markets and gas trade, every year it seeks to supply domestic gas, and in recent years, despite the exploitation From the phases of South Pars, however, the acceleration of consumption growth has always been higher than the growth of production.
The continuation of this trend will lead to a negative gas balance and will turn Iran, which currently has a 2% share of gas trade, into a gas importer.