Iran to increase natural gas storage capacity

Managing-Director of Natural Gas Storage Company Massoud Samivand said on Friday that the country's natural gas storage capacity should hit 14 billion cubic meters by the end of the country's Fifth National Development Plan (2011- 2015). He added that according to the development plan, Iran should be able to withdraw a daily total of 130 million cubic meters of natural gas from underground storage facilities by the end of the Plan. "Launching underground gas storage facilities will speed up Iran's entry into global gas trade," Samivand stated. He said construction of three underground gas storage facilities is simultaneously going on in Sarajeh region of Qom province, Yortsha region near the city of Varamin, and Shourijeh region in Khorassan Province. Samivand noted that the three new stores will be able to contain eight billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. Iran has 137.6 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and 29.61 trillion cubic meters of proven gas reserves, ranking second in the world in both oil and gas reserves.