Natural gas in Iran

Some 23 hydrocarbon fields lie in border areas and are shared between Iran and adjacent countries, including Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan.

[4] The Permo-Triassic successions (the Dehram group in Iran and its lateral equivalent, the Khuff formation), are major gas-producing intervals in these basins.

Iran's proven oil and gas reserves are 137 billion barrels (2.18×1010 m3) (10% of world's total) and 41.14 trillion cubic meters (15% of world's total) respectively, which give it a unique status in the global energy supply.

This means that Iran is one of the few countries capable of supplying much larger amounts of natural gas in the future.

Iran's overall gas exports in 2009/10 reached a record high of 6.8 billion cubic meters, increasing 44% over the previous year.

In 2010, Iran exported 0.4, 0.25, and 7.77 billion cubic metres of gas to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey respectively.

In terms of imports, Iran has received 0.35 and 6.5 billion cubic metres from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan respectively.

Most of Iran's gas is consumed domestically and has been increasing at an average annual rate of 12% for the past 15 years.