Iran sits atop the world's second largest gas reserves after Russia but its national gas company said on Friday it may face rationing if domestic demand continues to increase, a news agency reported.
Iran has said it wants nuclear power to generate electricity, allowing it to conserve more of its valuable gas and oil for export. The West suspects it is seeking to build atom bombs. Reza Kasaizadeh, managing director of Iran's national gas company, suggested that Iran in relative terms was consuming more gas than energy-hungry China and its fast-growing economy.
"We believe the amount of energy consumption in our country is twice more that what is needed," the ISNA news agency quoted him as saying. "If the current process of gas consumption continues, in the future gas will be rationed as well." Oil and gas products are heavily-subsidised in resource-rich Iran, encouraging consumption and waste, analysts say.
Government subsidies have helped make the country of 70 million people the world's fifth largest gas consumer. It burns more gas than Europe's largest economy Germany. The world's fourth biggest oil exporter also has to import about 40 percent of its gasoline needs because of a shortage of refining capacity. Parliament has backed plans to raise prices and ration the fuel to restrain consumption.
Energy rationing is a politically sensitive issue in Iran, where cheap, abundant fuel is considered a right by many Iranians. But selling oil and gas products at highly subsidised rates drains state coffers. Politics, sanctions and construction delays have slowed Iran's gas development and analysts say it is unlikely to become a major exporter for a decade.
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