Mahmoud Jan-Mohammadi, the Head of Iran’s CNG Association has warned of the weakening of the country’s CNG industry, calling for the revival of CNG stations, incentives for consumers, and a clear government policy toward the fuel.
According to the Tejarat News Website, Jan-Mohammadi said Iran had previously invested around $4–5 billion in CNG infrastructure and should maximize the use of this capacity to curb rising gasoline consumption. He said creating an effective price gap between gasoline and CNG could boost demand for the fuel.
He added that dual-fuel vehicles account for about 20% of Iran’s vehicle fleet, while CNG’s share of the transport fuel mix has fallen to just 13–15%. Despite regulations requiring automakers to produce at least 30% of their vehicles as dual-fuel models, their actual share of production in recent years has been only 0–4%.
Jan-Mohammadi said CNG consumption fell by about 17% last year, while gasoline consumption has been increasing by 6–8% annually. He estimated that the loss of 15 million cubic meters per day of CNG consumption would create a need equivalent to importing around 15 million liters of gasoline per day.
He also warned about the aging dual-fuel fleet, saying tanks in nearly 1.2 million vehicles out of an estimated 4.5 million dual-fuel vehicles will require testing, replacement or renewal in the coming years.
According to the CNG Association chief, Iran’s CNG stations have the capacity to supply 35–40 million cubic meters per day, but insufficient investment in equipment upgrades and declining station revenues are threatening their continued operation.
Jan-Mohammadi stressed that, given Iran’s vast natural gas reserves and existing infrastructure, the country could initially allocate 20–30% of the fuel mix for light-duty vehicles to CNG.