Gas storage facility operator Nafta is set to start the second stage of its project to extend the capacity of its gas storage reservoir in Gajary-baden.
The project will cost the company some EUR 166 million and should see the capacity of its storage facility increase from 2.2 billion m3 to 2.3 billion m3. In subsequent phases of the project the company has the target of reaching a capacity of 2.5 billion m3 by 2014. The EU provided a small helping hand with EUR 3 million in non-returnable funding.
Natural gas storage is a highly strategic business, through which mostly companies abroad can store stocks of natural gas in Slovakia and deplete them as they wish. All gas suppliers need storage space to cover the needs of their clients and so the battle for storage capacity is a fierce one, because overall capacities are usually insufficient. The EU also supports the creation of new storage capacities as this increases the overall energy security of Europe.