Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 4 / Trend E. Ismayilov /
The volumes of gas injection into underground storage facilities increased on account of the Azerbaijani gas supply to the Turkish state pipeline company Botas having been suspended, a source in SOCAR told Trend today.
Turkey has a contract to supply 6.6 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas annually from the Shah Deniz field via the South Caucasus Pipeline.
The source said that the increase of gas injection into underground storage facilities in Azerbaijan started last night. In particular, at present, the total volume of gas injection exceeds 14 million cubic meters per day. The volume of gas injection from the Shah Deniz field in both underground storage facilities increased by four million cubic meters per day compared to the last few days.
There are two underground storage facilities - Garadagh and Kalmaz in Azerbaijan.
"All the available technical equipment in both underground storage facilities have been used to ensure pumping of increasing volumes from the Shah Deniz gas," the source said.
According to the Hurriyet newspaper, the explosion occurred in the Turkish province of Kars in the section of the South Caucasus gas pipeline supplying gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey.
The causes of the explosion have not been determined. Turkish Botas representatives are working at the scene. Repairs could take from three to seven days. The explosion occurred on this pipeline on May 29, 2012.
Earlier, BP Azerbaijan (Shah Deniz technical operator), told Trend that gas delivery into the Botas system was suspended at the request of the Turkish company.
Operations were not stopped on the Shah Deniz offshore platform. Gas is supplied to Azerbaijan, Georgia and the pumping stations of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline 24 hours a day.