Natural gas storages are of great importance for the country's economy. States make agreements on specific amounts of natural gas. In these agreements, it is often not possible to accurately estimate the natural gas demand. There are many reasons for this. Indeed, many reasons come to mind even when we think of our own home economy. Even the fact that the weather will be relatively hot or cold that year can have a significant impact on a macro scale. At this point, we see how difficult it is to determine the amount of natural gas to be imported accurately. As a matter of fact, states still make agreements by making their calculations. Most of the time, the amounts reached by making this calculation are pretty close to the actual figure, although they are not precisely the same. One should not ignore the great effort of the experts of the business.
Turkey meets the large amount of natural gas needed in the domestic market by importing. It is a known fact that Turkey is a foreign-dependent country in natural gas. Russia, Iran, and Azerbaijan are the leading countries that meet Turkey's natural gas demand. On the other hand, Algeria stands out as one of the leading import countries besides these three countries, although the amount is small. Of course, it is impossible for a country that imports such large quantities of natural gas to estimate its demand with 100% accuracy. This situation brings to mind the following question: What happens to unused, imported excess natural gas? The answer is obvious. It is a tremendous waste.
There are several methods to prevent this waste. The most important of these is to build natural gas tanks. As a matter of fact, Turkey is trying to find a solution to the waste because it is a big importer. In recent years, some projects have been started to prevent waste. The most important of these is the Tuz Gölü Natural Gas Depot. Natural gas to be stored in caves built-in salt layers will significantly benefit the Turkish economy. When the facility's construction is completed, it will be the biggest natural gas warehouse in the world. With the construction of this facility, Turkey will be able to stabilize the natural gas demand problem further. For example, the gases in this facility can be used in crises. This facility will also be activated in cases such as malfunctions. In addition, as we mentioned above, there will be a margin of flexibility in the estimation of the unpredictable demand in the agreements. As is known, the annual natural gas demand in Turkey varies over the years. The fact that Turkey cannot meet the demand for energy produced in hydropower plants due to droughts that it has experienced from time to time also affects this. It should not be forgotten that this facility will increase Turkey's bargaining power in natural gas import agreements. When the facility's construction is completed in 2023, the targeted storage amount is 5.4 billion cubic meters.
There are other natural gas facilities in Turkey. Again, the existence of these facilities provides a great advantage to Turkey. These facilities attract many investments. For example, the North Marmara Natural Gas Storage Facility is already an exhausted natural gas reserve. With this feature, it is the first of its kind. It is argued that 495 million dollars will be invested in this facility. Thanks to this investment, the capacity of this facility will increase to 4.6 billion cubic meters. Such assets will again help meet Turkey's energy needs and make an outstanding contribution to the economy.
Turkey will reach a storage capacity of 10-11 billion cubic meters, primarily in these two facilities. This is a vast and significant amount. These warehouses will prevent fluctuations and significantly increase Turkey's bargaining power in crises and agreements. Considering the natural gas reserve discoveries made in the past months, Turkey may experience significant relief in the energy economy, especially in natural gas imports. Stepping into new projects will also protect these gains and increase the ease the country has achieved in its economy. If the benefit to be gained from this economic relief is used properly, Turkey will be able to make new investments and save billions of dollars every year. This shows us how the investment made in natural gas storage pays for itself and its profitability.