Omid Shakeri, speaking Monday at the signing of cooperation memorandums for the "Energy Pulse" campaign, recalled that the general policies for reforming energy consumption patterns were issued in 2010 (1389).

They called for halving the country's energy intensity within ten years, by 2023 (1402). A review of the 1402 figures showed intensity had not halved but had risen by about 40%, meaning that despite sound policy, the expected outcome did not materialize on the consumption side. He said the campaign's work over the past two years is a promising sign of more serious attention to energy policy and consumption, since the country is a decade behind.

Shakeri explained that reducing energy intensity is not only about cutting consumption. Intensity is a ratio of energy use to GDP, so a key step is optimizing and saving energy across sectors while also creating more economic value from the same amount of energy. Petrochemicals is one of those productive sectors and supplies a significant share of the country's foreign-currency earnings. When high household and commercial demand in the cold season forces restrictions on the industry, he said, the country in effect reduces GDP, which itself works against lowering energy intensity.

Raising GDP through participation

Shakeri said success in the campaign, and encouraging the public to join and take part in energy optimization, could raise GDP and bring benefits that reach every citizen. He called moving energy from non-productive, wasteful use to productive sectors highly desirable and said this aligns with the president's policy of encouraging conservation so that more energy is available for industry.

He said petrochemical producers have taken serious steps on optimization: compliance of energy use in the industry's processes with the National Standards Organization's mandatory criteria is above 75%.

1.8 bcm saved

Optimization projects in petrochemicals over the past four years have saved 1.8 billion cubic meters of gas, even though the industry is an energy consumer. Petrochemical companies have also put 680,000 megawatts of solar capacity into operation, he said, with another 200 megawatts due by the end of the year. (This figure is as stated in the source and is very large for solar capacity, so it may be a reporting error.)

Recovering damaged capacity

Shakeri said this is a hard year, given the damage to the energy industry in the 12-day and 40-day imposed wars, and that the capacity available to consuming sectors must be managed more strictly. Under the oil minister's management and the efforts of colleagues at the National Iranian Oil Company and the National Iranian Gas Company, part of the lost capacity has returned over recent months, and he hopes all of it will be restored as soon as possible.

He said the enemy's attacks on the energy and petrochemical industries show their importance to the economy and that this is an economic front. The oil and petrochemical industries are on the front line of the economic war, and everyone should help those working in them pass through this period with pride and victory.

Call for public participation

Shakeri urged everyone to join the optimization effort, saying that helping conserve energy makes it possible to allocate more to industry, with positive effects on economic growth and people's lives. He said the campaign, which began two years ago, is one in which everyone wins, and hoped to see it expand so that optimization, better allocation of energy to productive sectors and their economic benefits continue to grow.