Iran opens huge gas storage
Iran has inaugurated the first natural gas storage facility in the whole Middle East, Trend news agency reported referring to Mehr agency.
The Sarajeh facility, located in the city of Qom, near Tehran, will have capacity to store 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas in its first phase and the capacity will be increased to 3.3 billion cubic meters in the second phase, ISNA news agency reported.
To date, over 750 million cubic meters of natural gas has been stored in the facility.
In November 2012, IRNA news agency quoted National Iranian Gas Company Managing Director Javad Owji as saying that Iran will establish 40 gas storage facilities in the coming years.
About 60-70 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas will be stored in the facilities as consumption is expected to rise in the future, he added.
On Oct.1, 2012, Natural Gas Storage Company Managing Director Massoud Samivand told Mehr that Iran will be able to store 110 mcm of gas per day when it completes several relevant projects.
Work on Nasrabad underground storage facility near Kashan and Khorasan Province's Shourijeh facility will also be launched, Samivand said.