Iran's energy sector review

Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Hamidreza Araqi announced on November 19 that Shoorijeh gas storage facility, located in the northeastern province of Khorasan, will not come on stream in the current Iranian calendar year (to end March 20, 2014). This means that the country still remains highly dependent to gas imports from Turkmenistan. But while Iran still needs to import gas from neighboring countries to meet its domestic demands, Russia which has less gas reserves compared to Tehran, is developing its dominance in the global gas markets. The Mehr News Agency reported on November 19 that the Shoorijeh gas storage facility will not come on stream in the coming winter. According to the latest report released by United States' Energy Information Administration (EIA), Iran's gross gas output in 2011 was around 224 billion cubic metres. Some 67 percent of the mentioned amount was turned into dry natural gas, while 16 percent was injected to the oil wells, and some 17 percent

In his last days in office, Iran's former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad released a 140-item report on the country's development during his 8-year presidency. The 137th item says : "The country's investments in industrial projects during his two terms in office were 6.8 times more than his preceding administration ". Ahmadinejad had once said that the country's economic performances during his presidency have been way more than all the previous administrations after the 1979 revolution put together. President Rouhani's government, however, has repeatedly rejected the these items and statistics one-by-one. For example, the former president claimed that the average economic growth during his 8-year period equaled to his preceding administration's average figure (5.7 percent), but the Statistical Center of Iran recently reported that the figure is below 3.5 percent, while last year's growth alone stood at negative 5.4 percent, and this year'