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Tuz Golu Natural Gas Facility will be able to store Turkey’s natural gas for 3 months

SABAH toured Tuz Golu Natural Gas Underground Storage Facility, one of Turkey’s most important natural gas projects. 40 wells are under construction in the project. The facility will be able to store Turkey’s natural gas for 3 months with 52 wells in 2023.

Work continues at full speed in the Tuz Golu Natural Gas Underground Storage Project, which is one of the most important projects that will strengthen Turkey’s hand in natural gas. Within the scope of the project, where 12 wells were completed and put into service, the construction of 40 wells continues. The facility, where 1.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas is currently stored, will be able to store Turkey’s natural gas for 3 months with 52 wells in 2023. New wells continue to be drilled in the Tuz Golu Natural Gas Underground Storage Project in Aksaray’s Sultanhani District, where 12 wells were completed and put into service during the period of former Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. Salt dissolution works continue in the new wells drilled as part of the works.

IT WILL BE THE BIGGEST IN THE WORLD

Tuz Golu Natural Gas Underground Storage Facility in Sultanhani District opened its doors to SABAH. Providing information about the natural gas storage facility, which is one of the important investments of BOTAS, Tuz Golu Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility Operations Manager Ibrahim Kaymaz said that 12 wells, which is the first stage of the project, are in operation and 1.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas can be stored. Stating that 40 more wells are being drilled within the scope of the project, Kaymaz said, “Turkey will have 52 natural gas storage wells by 2023. Thus, Tuz Golu Natural Gas Underground Storage Facility will be the largest in the world.”

1.2 BILLION M3 IN 12 WAREHOUSES

Stating that the Tuz Golu Natural Gas Underground Storage Facility will be able to store 5.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas, Ibrahim Kaymaz said, “Currently, we are storing 1.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas in our 12 wells. With the completion of 40 more wells, this figure will increase to 5.4 billion cubic meters. This means that Turkey’s natural gas can be stored for 3 months.” Ibrahim Kaymaz, Operations Manager of Tuz Golu Natural Gas Underground Storage Facility, stated that the capacity of the facility to supply gas to the new main natural gas network is 40 million cubic meters per day and that this meets 15% of Turkey’s daily need. “We supply and store our natural gas in times when the prices are more suitable in summer, especially in order to meet the intense gas demand in the winter months. We give it to our main lines in the winter. We also have other storage facilities. We have a system where all of these can be activated. We will supply approximately one fourth of the gas consumed in residences from here. Turkey’s annual natural gas consumption is around 50-54 billion. With the completion of all our wells, we will have a storage capacity of 10%.”

A THOUSAND 500 TRAILER FITS IN ONE WELL

Noting that each of them has wells with a physical volume of approximately 750 million cubic meters, Kaymaz said, “Our wells are 1,500 meters deep. The diameter of the wells is 90 meters and the length is around 300 meters. These wells are large enough to fit 1,500 trucks. We bring the water from the Hirfanli Dam to our Tuz Golu natural gas storage facility with a 120-kilometer pipeline and press it into our wells. We dissolve the salt there with the fresh water we give 1,500 meters below the ground and bring the salt water back to the surface with the discharge pipe. We discharge this salty water into Tuz Golu with our 40-kilometer pipeline. The construction of each well takes about a thousand days in this way.”

THE MOST RELIABLE WAREHOUSE

Saying that salt’s sealing and pressure retention is a great advantage for the storage of natural gas, Operations Manager Ibrahim Kaymaz said, “The Salt Lake is the most suitable place to store natural gas in Turkey in terms of both cost and pillow gas. The useful life of our wells will be over 30 years. It can be recreated after 30 years. Salt is a substance that tries to cover itself. Therefore, it is possible to reactivate the repository. This is one of the least risky regions of Turkey in terms of earthquakes. In the event of a possible earthquake, there are valves that disable the system. We have a pretty secure system.”

“WE NAMED ONE STREET AFTER BERAT ALBAYRAK TO THE STREET”

Aksaray’s Sultanhani Mayor Fahri Solak stated that the Salt Lake Natural Gas Underground Storage Project in Sultanhani District was realized as a result of the intense efforts of Berat Albayrak, who was the former Minister of Treasury and Finance, while he was the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. “During the period of our esteemed Minister Berat Albayrak, our district gained this excellent facility. We owe the minister to bring this facility to our district. As Sultanhani Municipality, we named the street leading to Tuz Golu Natural Gas Underground Storage Facility as Berat Albayrak Street. We also declared our minister our honorary fellow citizen.”

ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY FACILITY

Stating that they established a Solar Power Plant (GES) for Tuz Golu Natural Gas Underground Storage Facility to meet its own electricity needs, Operations Manager Ibrahim Kaymaz said that they currently have a power plant at the level of 60%. Emphasizing that the electricity production from 1 megawatt will increase to 3 megawatts by the end of the year, Kaymaz said, “We will have met all the electricity of the facility ourselves, with our 3 megawatts of electricity generation from the SPP. In addition, the flamingos, which were at the level of 3 thousand when our project started, increased to the level of 20 thousand thanks to the water we discharged into Salt Lake. We also contribute to flamingos as a natural habitat. We planted 10 thousand trees in our facility. Within the scope of the project, we will provide additional income to the villagers by planting 100 thousand almond trees around the Hirfanli Dam.”

Source: Sabah / Translated by Irem Yildiz

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