DUBAI: Iran’s gas output will reach 1.3 billion cubic metres (bcm) per day in five years, Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji said on Sunday according to the semi-official Student News Network, up from 1.07 billion cubic metres per day currently.

To “ensure Iran’s central role in global energy”, $80 billion will be invested in the development of its gas fields, Owji said while at the seventh summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) held in Algeria.

Since the reimposition of sanctions by then U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018, Tehran has been cut off from foreign investors and has mainly relied on cash-strapped domestic companies to develop its energy sector.

US natgas prices dip on mild weather

Most of Iran’s gas production is consumed domestically or lost to gas flaring, with experts telling state media that the country may face gas imbalance of 300 million cubic metres per day in the coming years.

Domestic gas consumption by the residential sector is now approaching a record 700 million cubic metres per day during the winter months. The oil minister recently called upon Iranians to limit their consumption.