Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 12 / Trend, E. Ismayilov /
The Complex Drilling Works Trust of SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) is preparing to drill three new wells in underground gas storage facilities in Azerbaijan, the head of the trust, Iskender Shirali said in an interview with the Khalq gazeti newspaper.
Azerbaijan has two underground gas storage facilities, Kalmaz and Garadag.
According to him, in particular, a well of 3,650 meters depth at Garadagh underground gas storage facility has already been designed for drilling. It is planned to drill two wells at Kalmaz gasholder in the near future.
In 2012, according to Shirali, two wells were drilled at Garadagh storage, five wells - at Kalmaz storage.
Drilling of new wells at the storage facilities of the country is carried within the program for expansion of gas storage.
It is projected to boost gas reserves in underground facilities in Azerbaijan to 3.5 billion cubic meters during the season of gas injection in 2013, which begins in spring/summer.
At the end of the season in 2012, the volume of gas in underground facilities of the country amounted to nearly 3.3 billion cubic meters compared to nearly 3.25 billion cubic meters at the end of the previous season. In particular, 2.11 billion cubic meters of gas was pumped to storages last year.