|
|
| Fig. 1: Natural gas production in Iran compared to that of the entire Middle East from 2011-2021. [1] - (Image Source: H. Alammarah). |
Over the past few decades, the tension between Iran and the US, along with other superpowers (especially Western ones) has been on the rise. These escalate during wars and conflicts in the Middle East, and those involved in activism and the political sphere often attribute tensions to the demand for oil and natural gas. Natural gas, a form of nonrenewable energy, therefore a limited resource, tends to be a topic of conversation at numerous summits, as reports show that the top countries with proven natural gas reserves are Russia, the US, Qatar, and Iran. [1] Within Iran itself, 71% of its energy consumption in 2022 was in the form of natural gas. [2]
It is interesting to examine the change in the production of natural gas by Iran over the past few years, especially if compared to other countries in the Middle East and compared to the US. Out of the ~4000 billion cubic meters produced, Iran produced roughly 250, comprising roughly 6.25% of the world's production. Additionally, it consumed roughly 241 billion cubic meters, almost all of what it produced. Considering that Iran is amongst the top countries with proven natural gas reserves, the question remains: Why do they produce less than some of the other countries on the list? Interestingly, when looking at Russia in 2020 (prior to embargos and complications in trade due to the Ukraine invasion), it consumed 66% of the natural gas it produced. This likely means that the rest was exported, whereas Iran's exports are likely more limited.
The graph in Fig. 1 demonstrates the changes between the years in Iran natural gas production, as well as the change in the natural gas production in the Middle East as a whole. When calculating the percent difference between 2011 and 2021, Iran is seen to have increased their natural gas production by 5.4%, whereas overall in the Middle East, there was only a 3.2% increase. Around the world, natural gas production increased by 2.2%.
© Howra Alammarah. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] "BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2022," British Petroleum, June 2022, pp. 29.
[2] "Country Analysis Executive Summary: Iran," US Energy Information Administration, November 2022.