Speaking Saturday at the inauguration of the NGL 3100 project in Ilam Province, Pezeshkian thanked the oil minister and managers who brought the project to completion. He said Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has also emphasized the importance of such projects, adding that the work should be completed much faster than the current 2028 deadline.

“The annual value of the collected associated gas is $700 million. This project prevents the gas from being flared, and its downstream industries will also create significant employment opportunities,” Pezeshkian said. “I ask the engineers and workers involved to use their full capacity so the damages caused by gas flaring can be eliminated.”

The president also stressed that local experts and managers should be prioritized in the project instead of non-local “commuting by plane” managers.

The Ilam project is designed to recover 240 million cubic feet per day of associated gas from fields in southern Ilam and Dehloran. It includes the NGL 3100 complex, two compressor stations, a 100-megawatt power plant, and more than 350 kilometers of pipelines.

Initially, it will recover 80 million cubic feet per day, ramping up to full capacity in phases. The recovered rich gas will be processed at NGL 3100 to produce lean gas, C2+ liquids such as ethane and heavier hydrocarbons, sulfur, and other condensates.

Paknejad said more than 150 million cubic feet per day of lean gas will be fed into the national grid, while heavier fractions will be sent by pipeline to NGL 3200 in Khuzestan and from there to the Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex. Once the Dehloran petrochemical plant becomes operational, its feedstock will also come from this project.

The plant’s 100-megawatt power unit will supply about 30 megawatts to the national grid, helping stabilize electricity in the region.