TEHRAN, Feb. 15 (MNA) – Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Hossein Montazer Torbati said that $33 billion worth of investment is needed for reducing gas consumption in power plants in the nationwide.

He made the remarks on Sat. in a "Conference of Development of Financial System of Oil Industry" and added, “given the considerable share of open combined power plants in the country, $33 billion worth of investment should be made for minimizing gas consumption volume in power plants.”

With making $33 billion worth of investment and also implementing power plants’ optimization plans, “we will witness the growing trend of production and reducing consumption of gas.”

He pointed to the way of implementation of 6th nationwide gas pipeline project in the country and added, “given the export’s electricity rate, launch of 6th nationwide gas pipeline will bring about $4.5 billion worth of revenues annually.”

He then introduced prioritized projects in the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) for supplying financial resources and added, “launch of Oman export gas pipeline, construction of 9th, 10th and 11th gas conveyance pipelines, development of 2nd phase of Sarajeh Storage Tank in Qom, construction of second phase of Ilam refinery, etc. are of the salient and important priorities of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) for investment.”

MNA/IRN83674894