The Messenger, Georgia
Dec 28 2004
Saknavtobi plans natural gas storage
By M. Alkhazashvili
The leadership of Saknavtobi (the Georgian Oil corporation)
attributes great importance to the issue of building large
underground natural gas storage facilities in Georgia. They hope that
next year the Georgian government will pay extra attention to this
problem. On December 24, Saknavtobi organized a special presentation
at which it introduced a project to build an underground natural gas
storage facility at the Ninotsminda deposit.
Many analysts maintain that constructing such facilities will serve
as a significant guarantee for Georgia’s energy security. Each of
these storage units could contain several months’ worth of reserves
for the country, which could be used in case of emergency.
Furthermore, tt would also be possible to buy gas cheap in the summer
and use it in winter, when the tariff increases. This, in turn, would
allow for the conservation of hydro-resources. And, as Akhali Taoba
reports, if there was a surplus in winter, it would be possible to
export it for a profit.
In a word, Saknavtobi says, natural gas storage units have many
pluses. Construction sites have already been selected and relevant
projects have been developed. Georgian territory was studied for
these reasons in 2002-2003 within the framework of the TACIS program.
Ninotsminda, in the southern Georgian region of Javakheti, and
Rustavi emerged at the top of the list.
Experts evaluate that a gas storage facility with a 120-150 million
cubic meter capacity would cost approximately EURO 50 million. If
certain issues regarding finances are resolved soon, the construction
of such units could begin as soon as next year. However, so far there
are neither potential investors nor donors.
Supporters of the project hope that this will not be the case for
long, maintaining that if Georgia becomes home to a strategic natural
gas reserve, this will be significant for countries of the European
Union.
Statistics show that Georgia consumes 1.2 billion cubic meters of
natural gas annually. During the Soviet period, Georgia used to
consume six billion cubic meters, but the majority of this gas went
to industrial enterprises which no longer function today.
All of the world’s leading countries have natural gas storage
facilities. All together in the world there are 634 such units. There
are three underground storage facilities in the South Caucasus – two
in Azerbaijan and one in Armenia. Turkey is also planning to build an
underground gas reserve near Istanbul.