“The volume of last year’s natural gas exports stood at 8.4 billion cubic meters (bcm) while 4.5 bcm was imported,” Javad Owji, who is also managing director of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), said on Friday on the sidelines of Tehran Oil and Gas Show.

The official stated that Iran’s last year gas exports remained unchanged from a year before while imports were cut by 50 percent.

“Last year 40.5 bcm of gas was consumed in the power plants and 40 bcm in the household and commercial sectors…,” he said.

Iran, which sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia, has been trying to enhance its gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investment in the sector.