SOCAR AQS opens 40 wells in Turkey’s gas storage project

ISTANBUL

Azerbaijan’s integrated drilling and oil services management company, SOCAR AQS, opened 40 wells to expand the storage capacity of the Salt Lake (Tuz Gölü) Natural Gas Storage Facility in central Anatolia, head of SOCAR AQS said on May 27.

Around $103 million will be invested for storage expansion at the Salt Lake facility, SOCAR AQS Director General Ramin Isayev told Anadolu Agency.

Each well needs an investment of between $2 and $2.5 million, he added.

“The drilling operation has been completed in a total of 17 wells out of 40,” he said, adding that drilling operations are expected to finalize by the end of October 2020.

Currently, the facility can store 600 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas and has another 600 mcm of capacity under construction with plans to reach 5.4 billion cubic meters by 2023-24.

Turkey is planning to increase the share of LNG in natural gas imports to over 30 percent, while decreasing the share of pipeline exports, according to Deputy Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar on May 14.

Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan are Turkey’s main natural gas suppliers, but in recent years LNG imports from Qatar, Algeria and the United States are rising.

Oil imports down 7.2 percent in March

Turkey’s total oil imports decreased by 7.2 percent to 3.5 million tons in March compared to the same month of 2019, according to Turkish energy watchdog’s data on May 27.

Crude oil imports reach 2.68 million tons in March, the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) said in its monthly oil market report.

Turkey imported the highest amount of crude from Iraq at 1.3 million tons. Russia and Kazakhstan followed with 485,826 tons and 306,156 tons, respectively.