“The latest reliable international figures show the fact that Iran’s gas production has been on an upward trend since 2011, and the illegal US sanctions have been unable to stop that growth or reverse it”, Owji said on Saturday on the sidelines of an oil ministry emergency meeting ahead of the 7th Summit of the Heads of State of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Algeria later in the day.
He also said Iran's natural gas production has grown by an average of 5.2% per annum during 2012-2022, which is 2.5 times higher than the global average growth in the same period.
Despite the sanctions, Iran maintained its upward trend of gas production as well as oil production in 2023, the minister added.
Iran backs climate efforts
Also in his remarks, Owji said that Iran supports global efforts aimed at tackling climate change and mitigating its adverse effects, although it believes that the current climate issues are the result of activity by industrialized nations over the past 200 to 250 years.
On energy policies adopted at the international Cop 28 climate conference held in late 2023, the Iranian official said that those policies are aimed at reducing the emission of greenhouse gases in the long and mid-term, and each country contributes to their implementation depending on its national conditions.
Those policies, in addition to calling for developing clean energy, allow the use of decarbonization technologies, which makes the oil and gas industry continue playing its leading role in the world's energy supply.
Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF)
Despite numerous challenges in the global gas market, the GECF has managed to enhance cooperation among its member states in different fields of natural gas industry, within the framework of its article of association as well as long-term strategy, the minister said.
This has made the GECF effectively play its key role in maintaining and promoting global energy security during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, he added.
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