Azerbaijan, Baku, May.11/ Trend R.Zamanov
Iran will inaugurate its second gas storage facility in the Iranian month of Khordad (May 22 - June 21).
The Shoorijeh gas storage facility, located in the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi, has the capacity to store 4.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas, the Fars News Agency reported.
The Shoorijeh gas storage facility has two phases with injection capacity of 10 million cubic meters per day.
Once the gas storage facility comes on stream, Iran will rank as the world's fifth country in terms of gas storage capacity. The United States of America with 121 billion cubic meters ranks first in the list. Iran currently stands at the 19th place.
Iran's Sarajeh gas storage facility came on stream in December. It was Iran's first gas storage facility, which is second to none in the Middle East.
The facility is located at the Sarajeh reservoir in Qom, south of Tehran.
The facility has capacity to store 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas in its first phase and 3.3 billion cubic meters in the second phase. The Sarajeh gas storage facility's injection capacity is 10 million cubic meters per day.
Iran will build 40 gas storage facilities in the coming years, IRNA quoted National Iranian Gas Company's managing director Javad Owji as saying in November.
In October, Massoud Samivand, the managing director of Natural Gas Storage Company, told the Mehr News Agency that Iran will be able to store 110 mcm of gas per day when it completes several relevant projects.
Upon completion of five to six projects, Iran's gas storage capacity will grow to 110 million cubic meters making it possible for the country to have a greater share in global gas sales.
He said the country's natural gas storage capacity should hit 14 billion cubic meters by the end of the Fifth Economic Development Plan (2015).
More than $200 billion is said to be needed to invest in the implementation of Iran's gas projects.