Iran increasing gas storage capacity, end gas import dependence

An Iranian energy official says Iran plans to increase its underground gas storage capacity by inaugurating its second natural gas storage facility in the central city of Kashan.
Massoud Samivand, managing director of Natural Gas Storage Company (NGSC), said on Friday that the Nasrabad facility would end Iran’s need to import gas from neighboring Turkmenistan.

The official said Iran currently ranks 19th in the world in terms of natural gas storage capacity, and will claim the 5th place when the new facility in Kashan and another facility under construction in Khorasan Province, northeast of Iran, are made operational.

Samivand stated that according to the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2011-2015), Iran should be able to store between 120 and 130 million cubic meters of natural gas.

The first natural gas storage facility in Iran and the Middle East was officially inaugurated near the village of Sarajeh — located approximately 124 kilometers south of Tehran — in early January.

The Sarajeh facility is said to have the capacity to store 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas in its first phase and 3.3 billion cubic meters in the second phase.

Over 750 million cubic meters of natural gas has already been stored in the facility.

In November 2012, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company Javad Owji said Iran plans to establish 40 gas storage facilities in the coming years.