The National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) was established in 1965 as one of the four principal companies affiliated to the Ministry of Petroleum of the Islamic Republic of Iran with 25,000 million Rials initial capital.
NIGC is responsible for the treatment, transmission, and delivery of natural gas to the domestic, industrial, and commercial sectors and power plants. The National Iranian Gas Exports Company (NIGEC) was created in 2003 to manage and to supervise all gas pipeline and LNG projects. Until May 2010, NIGEC was under the control of the NIOC, but the Petroleum Ministry transferred NIGEC, incorporating it under NIGC in an attempt to broaden responsibility for new natural gas projects.[1] As at 2012, 12,750 villages have been connected to gas network.[2] NIGC does not play a role in awarding upstream gas projects; that task remains in the hands of the National Iranian Oil Company.[3] Iran has the largest gas network in the Middle East with 22,000 kilometres (14,000 mi) of high-pressure pipelines.[4]