Tehran, Iran, June 21
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iran will pump over 20 million cubic meters of gas per day from its two major gas storage facilities in winter.
Iran's Natural Gas Storage Company's Managing Director Masoud Samivand said on June 21 that the company is paving the way for extracting the mentioned amount of gas from Sarajeh and Shoorijeh gas storage facilities in the cold months, Iran's SHANA News Agency reported.
"Based on the Fifth Five-year Socio-Economic Development Plan (2011-2015), gas storage facilities are in charge of providing enough gas to meet 14 percent of the country's total consumption," he said.
"In case of constructing a 40-million cubic meters refinery for Shoorijeh facility and another 20-million cubic meters facility for Sarajeh facility, the country will even be able to pump 60 million cubic meters of gas to national network," Samivand added.
Samivand said on June 14 that Iran will store 2 billion cubic meters of gas in the Sarajeh gas storage facility by the end of the current Iranian calendar year [March 20, 2015].
"Currently some 7 million cubic meters of gas could be extracted from the facility," he said, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported.
"Iran's gas storage capacity currently stands at 8 billion cubic meters,' he said.
"Currently over 7 million cubic meters of gas per day is being pumped to the facility," he said, adding that some 13-15 million cubic meters of gas can be extracted from Sarajeh gas storage facility in winter.
"Some 10-15 million cubic meters of gas can also be extracted from Shoorijeh gas storage facility in winter," Samivand noted.
Iran plans to increase its gas storage capacity by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, which started on March 21.
Iranian oil minister has ordered the related bodies to do their best to achieve the goal, Iran's IRIB News Agency reported on April 20.
Currently, only Sarajeh gas storage facility is active in Iran. Shoorijeh gas storage facility is expected to come on stream by the end of year.
The Shoorijeh gas storage facility, located at the north-eastern province of Khorasan Razavi, has the capacity to store 4.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Iran will store extracted gas from the joint gas fields, especially the giant South Pars field, in this facility.
Once the facility comes on stream, Iran will become one of the world's top five countries in terms of gas storage facilities. The U.S. with 121 billion cubic meters ranks first in the list. Iran currently stands at the 19th place. Iran will also become the Middle East's biggest owner of gas storage facilities.
Samivand said on February 21 that based on global standards, Iran needs to store around 10 to 15 percent of its total consumption which is equal to 15 billion cubic meters.
Iran's dried gas output is about 160 bcm, a little more than domestic consumption level, according to BP's latest yearly report.
Iran exported 7.5 bcm of gas to Turkey and imported 4.5 bcm gas from Turkmenistan in 2012, according to BP's report.