Azerbaijan, Baku, June 25/Trend M. Moezzi
The inauguration of a gas storage facility outside Tehran continues to be delayed.
Masood Samivand, head of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), had anticipated the Qom Province's Sarajeh gas storage field would be finished in late May, but that deadline has passed the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reports.
Safety issues have kept the Sarajeh gas reservoir, a depleted hydrocarbon reserve from becoming operational. The reserves held at Sarajeh would prevent gas shortages and higher prices during the winter months. It will expand Iran's gas storage capacity to more than 14 billion cubic meters to ensure supplies meet domestic and export demands.
Sarajeh was first supposed to be inaugurated by September 2010 but that was delayed because the process to store gas has to take place during warm months.
Based on standard formulas, countries with natural gas holdings should reserve 13.7 per cent of their gas used each year. Iran's estimated annual gas consumption of 107 billion cubic meters means it should have 14 billion cubic meters of gas in storage.