Turkey will increase its natural gas storage capacity at the Salt Lake (Tuz Golu) underground facility to 5.4 billion cubic meters by 2023, according to Fatih Donmez, Turkey's energy and natural resources minister on Monday.
During the Salt Lake Natural Gas Storage Facility Project Expansion signing ceremony, Donmez said the launch of the second phase of the project would open an additional 48 caverns to contribute towards the facility running at full capacity with 60 caverns by 2023.
Currently, the Salt Lake facility has a storage capacity of 600 million cubic meters.
Turkey aims to have sufficient storage capacity to meet at least 20 percent of its gas demand. To this end, the Salt Lake facility will have enough capacity to meet almost 10 percent of Turkey's current natural gas consumption of around 50 billion cubic meters per year.
The minister said with the facility expansion, it would ensure the supply of 80 million cubic meters per day of natural gas to the country's gas network.
Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS) awarded the design, supply and installation of the second phase of the Salt Lake Underground Storage Expansion Facility to a joint venture between China's Camc Engineering and Turkey's IC Ictas Construction, BOTAS confirmed on March 13.
Donmez noted that energy supply security is a key element for the country, and added that the ministry aims to make Turkey an energy hub with projects such as the storage expansion facility, the TurkStream gas pipeline project, and the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline project (TANAP).
On June 27, 2018, the World Bank and China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) approved a total of $1.2 billion credit for the Salt Lake facility, which was launched by Turkish President Recep Erdogan on Feb. 10, 2017.
The facility is located in the Sultanhani district in the province of Aksaray, 40 kilometers from the Salt Lake.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr