World Bank Announces $400m for Turkey Gas Facility

The World Bank will provide $400 million of additional financing for Turkey's first gas storage facility in its underground salt formation at Tuz Golu.

A rapidly expanding population and economy have left Turkey in need of additional energy resources. Ankara is hoping to increase its renewable energy production by 30% by 2023.

"The additional loan would finance $400 million of the cost overrun in the Tuz Golu gas storage facility," said the World Bank in a statement.

The Tuz Golu gas storage facility is located in an underground salt formation close to a salt lake of the same name in southern central Turkey. Upon completion, the facility would have a capacity of 960 million cubic metres of gas per day for up to 20 days.

"Natural gas consumption has grown rapidly in Turkey over the past two decades. Natural gas accounts for almost one third of the country's primary energy supply, and fuels almost 50% of electricity generation," said the World Bank's Martin Fraser in a statement.

"As household and industrial demand increase, natural gas storage facilities constructed under this project will help keep the cost of natural gas more stable across the seasons, give better security of supply, and encourage the construction of gas distribution networks," he added.

Turkey will repay the $400 million over a 16 year period.