Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR continues work to expand the capacity of underground gas storage facilities in the country, Iskender Shirali, head of the SOCAR Integrated Drilling Trust, said in an interview with Trend Feb. 20.
There are two gas storage facilities – Kalmaz and Garadagh – in Azerbaijan. Capacity of Azerbaijan’s underground gas storage facilities allow to store more than 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas.
Shirali said that the Trust is drilling new wells on the territory of the Garadagh underground gas storage facility.
“The use of new generation drilling rigs significantly accelerates our work,” he added. “Fourteen wells were drilled at the Garadagh underground gas storage facility in 2015-2017. In 2018, it is planned to increase drilling volumes there and to drill more than 27,000 meters by the end of the year.”
He noted that the work on expanding the underground gas storage facility is important from the point of view of meeting the growing domestic demand for gas and commercial gas trade.
“It is considered that in order to ensure energy security, the volume of gas storage facilities should be at least 20 percent of the total domestic consumption level,” Shirali said. “Presently, the capacities of the Garadagh and Kalmaz underground gas storage facilities account for about 35 percent of gas consumption in Azerbaijan.”
It was earlier reported that in order to use commercial potential of gas storage facilities of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, Azerbaijan imports additional volumes of gas at low prices in summer, and in winter, when gas prices are higher, the country exports the purchased gas and receives additional income.