Azerbaijan, Baku, March 16 / Trend /
The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) will increase the number of units at the Kalmaz compressor station from 16 to 18 within a project to double the gas pumped into the underground storage facility in Azerbaijan.
Repair works on 13 units have already been completed. The units are ready for operation early the next pumping season. Another five units are under reconstruction. Afterwards, the units will operate with a pressure of 140 atmospheres compared to the previous 125 atmospheres.
Fuel supplies at the underground storage facilities will be used in the winter as gas consumption typically increases in the country. Azerbaijan has two underground storage facilities - Karadagh and Kalmaz.
Last year, SOCAR pumped a record volume of gas at a rate of about 2 billion cubic meters into underground storage facilities compared to 1.4 billion in 2008.
About 1.16 billion cubic meters of gas have been pumped into Kalmaz and more than 795.3 million cubic meters into Karadagh last year.
SOCAR operates actively to expand the Karadagh.
SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev said the company plans to complete the construction of new compressor stations, pipelines and wells by 2011. Within the first phase of expanding Karadagh, its capacity will reach 1.4 billion cubic meters, while within the second phase the figure will hit 2.3 billion cubic meters.
According to Abdullayev, about 3 billion cubic meters of fuel will soon be pumped into the facility. In the promising third stage, the figure may increase by 5 billion. This will improve the security of Azerbaijan's domestic gas market and significantly expand export opportunities.