The position of regulation in the process of privatizing the gas industry, case study: Iran's gas market

Natural monopoly’ characteristic of network gas industry as well as some other features such as demand, supply and pricing have resulted to fail this market. As a result of market failure, privatizing this industry without institutions and instruments of regulatory will lead to anti-competitive behavior, such as Abuse of dominant position and monopoly status.
This article is done by analytical- descriptive method in two sections. In the first section, Principles, nature and instruments of regulatory and Experiences of the United States of America will be examined. The second section is allocated to the evaluating of regulation in Iran’s gas industry. The results of this research show that Despite the Codification of instruments of regulation in the economy, yet these instruments have not been used in Iran's gas industry and All value chain of this industry have been monopolized by government.
gas industry, Iran's gas market, market failure, competitive markets, noncompetitive markets.