Deputy oil minister said Iran's gas production capacity has reached 260 billion cubic meters per year.
According to Mehr News Agency, Hamidreza Araqi pointed to the implementation of the comprehensive plan for Iran's gas industry and said, "Major developments are expected to come by the next six years."
The plan, he said, consists of 300 modules the implementation of which would be important for the country's gas industry.
He listed the advantages of developing the gas industry as: Iran's strategic position in the region and the world which provide the shortest route to domestic markets, the largest gas production capacity in the world, big infrastructure for exporting gas to different parts of the world, minimum investment as well as the potentials for export.
Araqi, who also heads National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), further deemed gas exports as a strategic project, adding, "According to the project, investment to the tune of $2.28 billion will be made by the private sector for the first time in Iran and investors will receive their interest from gas sales."
He underlined that Iran possesses the world's largest hydrocarbon reserves with 34 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves."In 2014, Iran ranked fourth in gas production as well as consumption by producing 173 billion cubic meters of natural gas."
Highlighting the existence of 10 gas refineries in the country with annual production capacity of 260 billion cubic meters, he pointed out, "More than 10 main lines and 36,000 kilometers of gas pipelines supply gas nationwide."