Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Hamid Ghasemi Dehcheshmeh, the director of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Projects at the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC), said over 2,425 CNG stations are being run in Iran with 2,800 cubic meters/hour of capacity, adding 50 new stations will be put into operation next year.

As he said, Iran currently consumers 21 million cubic meters of the fuel (equivalent of 21 million liters of petrol) on a daily basis.

Comparing 3,500 petrol stations and 2,400 CNG stations in the country, he added: "NIOPDC's main goals in creating new CNG gas supply stations in the country include increasing the consumption of CNG instead of gasoline, ease of access to stations and preventing long queues."

The official further added that five global car makers, including Benz and Volkswagen, have announced preparedness to build CNG vehicles in Iran, and have made prototypes so far.

There are nearly 4 million CNG cars in Iran and plans are under way to increase their number, Ghasemi added.