Azerbaijan, Baku, 13 May / Trend, E. Ismailov /
SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) will complete the drilling of three wells in the coming months as part of the expansion of underground gas storage facilities, a source in SOCAR told Trend on Monday.
There are two underground gas storage facilities in Azerbaijan - Kalmaz and Garadagh.
According to the source, in particular, the drilling of wells is currently underway at Galmaz gas storage facility at a depth of 2,116 meters out of a projected 3,500 meters. Alongside this, work is underway on the development of a new well, which will soon be put into operation.
A source said the drilling of new wells is also being undertaken at the Kalmaz underground gas storage facility. The drilling of two wells at a depth of 1,895 meters (design depth - 2100 m) and 1,355 meters (design depth - 1,970 meters) is nearing completion.
"Therefore, the drilling of several wells will be completed in the coming months," the source said.
It is predicted to increase the volume of gas reserves in underground gas storage facilities in Azerbaijan to 3.5 billion cubic meters during the 2013 gas injection season, which begins in the spring and summer.
According to the 2012 season totals, the volume of gas in underground storage facilities of the country amounted to about 3.3 billion cubic meters, compared to about 3.25 billion cubic meters at the end of last season. In particular, last year, some 2.11 billion cubic meters of gas was pumped into the storage facilities.
