Iran presses ahead with providing more fuel to power plants amid severe cold

The Iranian Oil Ministry is keeping up with increasing its outputs to supply of fuels to power plants in the country amid severe cold across the country that has forced the government to declare consecutive holidays to lessen demands for electricity.

News ID: 5602

Date: 17 December 2024 - 09:41

TABNAK, Dec 17: The CEO of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC) said on Monday that the country's total fuel production reached an all-time high of 320 million liters per day on Sunday.

Karamat Veis Karami said that the NIOPDC had produced 153 million liters of gas soil on Sunday, delivering more than 52 million liters to power plants that are struggling with low supplies of natural gas.

Veis Karami said that the daily supply of gas oil to power plants had reached records of more than 74 million liters in recent days.

The announcement comes amid reports suggesting that some 17 power plants in Iran, out of a total of 143 in the country, have stopped generating electricity because they have been disconnected from the country’s gas grid due to increased gas use by households.

Fuel inventories at those power plants have declined significantly because of a government ban on the use of mazut which was enforced between May and September.

Authorities have ordered a ramp-up in gasoil production to offset the shortage although they insist it will take time to fill up the storage tanks at power plants.

The government announced Tuesday a third back-to-back holiday in many provinces, including in the capital Tehran, as household demand for natural gas continued to rise because of the freezing temperatures that engulfed 28 of 31 Iranian provinces.

The Oil Ministry said household gas consumption in Iran had reached a whopping figure of 640 million cubic meters on Sunday.