CNG Consumption Rises After Third Gasoline Price Tier

The Consumption Affairs Director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company reported a daily increase of 2 million cubic meters in CNG consumption and a 10 million liter drop in gasoline consumption.

According to the report of Ambassador Arjan Emad Rafiei, the director of consumption affairs of the National Petroleum Refining and Distribution Company in the Economic Table program, referring to the increase in the price of gasoline to 10 thousand tomans based on the government's approval, he said: the daily consumption of CNG has increased from 14.7 million cubic meters in August to 16.7 million cubic meters; In this way, the daily consumption of this fuel has increased by about 2 million cubic meters.

Rafiei added: Simultaneously with this process, the daily consumption of gasoline has decreased from 144 million liters to 134 million liters.

Referring to the change in the growth trend of gasoline consumption, he said: The growth of gasoline consumption this month was 3 percent compared to the same period last year. This is despite the fact that in the previous months, a 5-6% increase in gasoline consumption was recorded compared to the same period last year.

The Director of Consumer Affairs of the National Petroleum Refining and Distribution Company considered the increase in CNG consumption to be an effective factor in reducing gasoline consumption and described this process as promising for the country.

The necessity of renovating stations and activating CNG capacity

In the continuation of this program, Ehsan Janmohammadi, the chairman of the board of directors of the CNG Association of the country, referring to the 15-25 year life of the stations in this area, said: part of the equipment of the stations needs improvement and renovation after this period.

Janmohammadi added: The economic conditions of the stands in the last 10 years have been such that the owners have not been able to carry out periodical repairs.

Stating that CNG stations receive standard certificates every year, he stated that despite economic restrictions, there is no non-standard station in the network of CNG stations.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the CNG Association of the country considered the non-activation of all the nozzles of some stations as another issue in this field and said: due to the economic conditions, the low number of customers and the limited capacity used, in some stations there was no need to put all the nozzles into the circuit.

He emphasized: With more attention to the development of CNG, one of the first necessary measures is to activate all the existing capacity of the stations; The capacity, which is estimated between 35 and 40 million cubic meters per day, can play an effective role in supplying fuel to the country and reducing the imbalance.

The capacity of 40 million cubic meters against the consumption of 17 million cubic meters

In this program, Mustafa Nakhai, a member of the Energy Commission of the Islamic Council, also emphasized the necessity of diversifying the country's fuel basket and said: despite the significant infrastructure for the development of CNG and the provision of incentives and legal tools in the 7th Development Plan, due to various reasons, there has not been enough incentive to use this fuel.

Referring to Article 46 of the 7th Development Plan Law in the field of fuel portfolio diversification and Article 12 in the field of financial instruments and energy optimization account, he added: appropriate legal capacities have been foreseen for the diversification of the country's fuel portfolio, but these capacities have not been properly used.

Referring to the presence of about 2,500 CNG stations and a significant number of dual-fuel vehicles in the country, a member of the Energy Commission of the Islamic Council said: Incorrect policies at times stopped the development of this fuel and even the amount of CNG use in vehicles equipped with dual-fuel systems decreased.

Stating that the nominal capacity of CNG consumption in the country is 40 million cubic meters per day, Nakhai added: The daily consumption of this fuel, which was lower than the available capacity, has reached about 17 million cubic meters with the implementation of recent policies and the increase in gasoline prices in the past two months.

He said: The gap between the existing capacity and the current consumption is significant and it should be planned for the maximum use of the created infrastructure.

Executive disagreements and lack of positions in underserved areas

Criticizing some executive obstacles to the development of CNG, a member of the Parliament's Energy Commission said: There are disagreements in some organizations and executive departments about the benefits of developing this fuel, and in some cases, the use of CNG is not recognized as a solution to save energy consumption. In such a way that they do not even issue a savings certificate for it or consider the cost of obtaining this certificate to be high.

Nakhai also emphasized the necessity of balanced development of CNG infrastructure in the country and added: In some areas of vast provinces such as Sistan and Baluchistan and South Khorasan, access to CNG stations is seriously limited and people have to travel long distances, even about 150 kilometers, to access these services.

A member of the Parliament's Energy Commission said: Article 12 capacity and other legal tools should be used to provide equipment and infrastructure needed for CNG development. According to him, despite plans approved by the government and the Economic Council, disagreements in the implementation phase have prevented the progress of some plans.

At the end, Nakhai emphasized the importance of the economy of CNG stations and added: In addition to removing legal and executive obstacles, the sustainable development of this fuel requires serious attention to the economy of stations and creating sufficient motivation for investment in this area.

Examining the views raised in this program shows that the development of CNG is not only dependent on the increase in the price of gasoline, and the modernization of equipment, the activation of station capacity, the development of infrastructure in low consumption areas and the removal of investment barriers are also important in the effective use of this alternative fuel.