The 2014 worldwide working gas capacity grew annually by five percent with Iran's contribution from the only underground gas storage in the Middle East, according to Cedigaz's statement released last week.
The worldwide storage capacity stands at 399 bcm according to the recent data.
The commissioning of the Shourijeh storage in Iran supports Iran's aim to decrease the amount of gas imports from Turkmenistan. The Shourijeh facility, located 25 kilometers southeast of Sarakhs in northwestern Iran which can store up to 4.8 bcm of gas, raised the Iranian capacity to slightly more than 6 bcm.
Asia followed the Middle East with a 15 percent increase with the new facilities coming online in China. China aims to increase gas in a total energy mix from 4 percent to 10 percent by 2020 and to develop a 90 bcm storage capacity.
In the more mature markets of North America, Europe and the C.I.S. - the Commonwealth of Independent States, capacity grew from 3 to 4 percent.
In terms of working gas capacities by regions, the continent of America ranks as the first, followed by C.I.S, Europe and Asia respectively with the Middle East showing the least working gas capacity in 2013.
Fifty percent of the new facilities under construction are in Europe, Italy ranking first followed by Germany and the Netherlands.
United Kingdom holds the highest number of planned storage facilities, and Turkey follows behind.
Cedigaz is a non-profit International Center for Natural Gas Information established in 1961 near Paris.
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