BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 17. The reserves of Iran’s Sarajeh gas field, located in the central Qom Province and currently used as an underground storage facility, are set to increase to 1.5 billion cubic meters annually, Behnam Mirzaei, Director of the Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company, told reporters, Trend reports.
Mirzaei stated this during an inspection of ongoing works aimed at expanding the gas reserves at Sarajeh as part of the project’s second phase.
At present, the Sarajeh field can store up to one billion cubic meters of gas per year, he pointed out.
Mirzaei explained that developing underground reserves is part of the country’s strategy to address gas shortages. The process involves injecting gas into the field during the eight warmer months and withdrawing it over the four colder months.
“Currently, three wells in the Sarajeh field are under repair, and a new well has been drilled, with equipment installation ongoing. Additionally, a 5.2-kilometer-long, 16-inch pipeline is being laid. This pipeline will be used to increase gas pressure and extract gas from the reserves,” he added.
The Sarajeh gas field was discovered in 1956 and has produced 2.5 billion cubic meters of gas and 3.5 million barrels of gas condensate for Iran. However, it only has 8.5 billion cubic meters of gas reserves left, and only 20 percent of them can be extracted with current technologies. Therefore, Iran decided to convert the field into an underground storage facility in 2012 after creating the necessary infrastructure. The facility can store up to 3.1 billion cubic meters of gas, which are injected in 8 months and withdrawn in 4 months of the year. The facility also adds some gas to the reservoir when it releases gas.
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