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Underground Storage of Natural Gas
Underground Storage of Natural Gas
Variation in space heating needs is measured in degree-days, using 65 F (18.3 C) mean temperature as the base
temperature. A mean temperature of 45 F corresponds to 20 degree-days. For space-heating, Figure 9.1 shows
the variation in heating loads for the Detroit area, totaling 6404 degree-days in any one heating season, November
through March.
9.2 BASIC CHARACTER OF A STORAGE RESERVOIR
A section and a plan view of a reservoir equipped for storage are shown in Figure 9.2. The storage container is a
porous solid with a caprock overhead to prevent vertical migration. Water in the storage zone underlies all or part
of the gas filled sane or carbonate. Wells designated I/W, for "input and withdrawal", are completed in the storage
zone. Observation wells are completed in the water-bearing porous media to permit observation of the pressure
and any migrating gas.
Depleted gas reservoirs are prime candidates for conversion to storage. The size of the reservoir is determined by
calculation from geological data or from the production and reservoir pressures. Such calculations are relatively
simple for cases with little or no water movement.
The typical injection and withdrawal pattern in storage is shown by Figure 9.3. A delivery system can be installed
to cover the market demand for the year, and ideally the unused gas in summer is stored for use in winter. Some
flexibility is needed, since variation in weather causes varying demands. Storage fields and pipelines may require
some period of reduced load in summer for testing.
The storage gas is considered in two parts. The base gas provides for sufficient gas pressure to produce gas
adequately at the end of withdrawal. The gas at pressures above the base pressure is termed working gas storage
gas and makes up the annual turnover of gas. Figure 9.4 illustrates the pressure-gas quantity relation, showing
base gas and working storage.
The use of pressures above discovery, a delta pressure, gives added usage for a given container (larger than the
discovery gas quantity). This practice has demonstrated large economic benefits to the storage industry for
converted gas reservoirs. In gas storage, pressures in the earth may be up to 0.7 psi/ft.
There are four key elements in observing ongoing gas storage operations.
1. Monitoring,
2. Inventory verification,
3. Deliverability assurance, and
4. Safety.
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9.2.1 Monitoring
Monitoring means more than taking data and making records. It is the analysis of the data that usually detects the
early signs of unwanted gas movement. The system under consideration, in addition to the resrvoir, includes
1. Surface piping,
2. Wellbores,
3. Layers of rock above and below the storage zone, and
4. Surrounding area at distance of 1 to 3 miles or more.
The reservoir engineer should develop a mental model of the reservoir behavior. Only then the deviations due to
unwanted behavior become evident. For example, gas losses through corrosion spots or casing collars can be
detected by rising annulus gas pressures, temperature, noise, and neutron logs in wells, or even lower than normal
closed wellhead pressures in comparison with neighbors.
The challenge is to gather large amounts of data and display them so that the reservoir engineers may see trends
and note anomalies that imply that all is not according to the model in mind.
9.2.2 Inventory Verification
The "inventory" is basically a thermodynamic quantity. It relates to the amount of natural gas in storage. Its
verification is generally approached by two independent concepts: "volumetric" and "depletion".
There are various analytical methods available to the reservoir engineer for verifying the inventories of
underground gas storage.
The volumetric formulae are sensitive to changes in the variables involved in the equations. Therefore, when
calculating the gas content in a heterogeneous reservoir, care must be taken to compensate for the disparity in
porosity as it occurs throughout the reservoir.
Q = (Gasporevolume)(
PT b
)
Pb Tz
(9.1)
Once the geological information as to the productiveacreage of the reservoir, the thickness of the storage zone the
porosity and water saturation is established, the equation evolves to:
Q = (Area)(Thickness)(Porosity)(
PT b
)(1 - s w )
Pb Tz
(9.2)
By evaluating the original gas in place from the field's production decline curve and knowing the original reservoir
pressure and temperature, the gas pore volume could be derived from Equation 9.2. Substituting the resultant
volume and the average reservoir pressure and temperature to the same equation, the current storage inventory is
determined. In a heterogeneous reservoir, the "bulk-average" method is applied to compensate for the variance in
porosity. With the "block-average" method, the porosity-thickness of each well is plotted and contours established
mush as you would draw the thickness contours on a isopachous map.
Normally, the performance of a storage field is tracked during the injection and withdrawal cycles by evaluation of
the hysteresis and deliverability curves. To verify or explain deviations of the reservoir performance patterns as
they compare to previous years, the measured inventory should be checked by a volumetric calculation.
Verification of inventory by depletion concept is based on the pressure measurements. Closed pressure
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measurements for a period of 3 to 15 days or more are used for all wells, normally when at maximum or
minimum storage pressures. For constant pore volume reservoirs, for which the closed pressures are relatively
uniform and stabilized, the pressure content data relates the metered production or change in inventory to the
initial content,
Q1 =
Q1 - Q 2
( P1 )
( P1 / z 1 ) - ( P 2 / z 2 ) z 1
(9.3)
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Q m = V ab (1 - S w )
1
B g,ab
1
B g,m
+ ( V max - V ab ) F sw F r
1
B g,m
+ Q s (9.4)
where
Qm = the volume of nonrecoverable gas in standard conditions (scf),
Vab = the volume of gas reservoir space not flooded at abandonment (cuft),
Sw = connate water saturation,
B = the formation volume factor; subscript m denotes condition at the mean reservoir pressure
(Pmax + Pab)/2,
Vmax = the maximum volume of reservoir space ever containing gas at the maximum pressure Pmax (cuft),
Fsw = the sweep factor, fraction of space below gas-water contact at abandonment flushed with water,
Fr = the residue gas saturation for water flooded zone,
Qs = the gas dissolved in water (cuft).
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The first term on the right-hand side of Equation 9.4 is the gas content (cuft) for the unflooded zone above gaswater contact at abandonment shown in Figure 9.5. The gas content of the nonswept, or bypassed zone below the
gas-water contact line is the second term on the right-hand side of Equation 9.4, and the third term represents
residue gas content for the swept portion.
9.4 STORAGE IN SALT CAVITIES
In 1950 the use of salt cavities for storing propane and butane underground was introduced. Although there had
been a long history of creating salt cavities by solution mining of salt, the creation of a salt cavern for the purpose
of LP gas storage was an innovation.
9.4.1 Occurrence of Salt Beds
Salt beds occur in two modes within limited areas of the world. These beds may be extensive layers of evaporative
or extruded domes of salt.
Salt layers in beds are quite different from salt domes. The nature of the beds can be observed in rock-salt mines.
Layers of limestone, dolomite, or anhydrite may occur in the salt beds; these do not dissolve in solution mining,
but form ledges that fall in as the dissolution progresses. Generally, the NaCl in salt domes is more homogeneous
than that in evaporative beds.
What protection do salt layers have from percolating streams of aquifer water? On the top of salt beds or domes,
there are a series of evaporites including gypsum, dolomite, and anhydrite. Laboratory studies on anhydrite
showed that it has an unmeasurable permeability and has were declared a homogeneous rock or super caprock.
Anhydrite reacts with water to form gypsum:
(9.5)
What isolates salt beds in the earth? Salt layers have anhydrite in their caps, and gypsum is present. Gypsum is
believed to protect the salt layer from fresh water dissolution. When the edge of salt beds have no anhydrite
covering, salt dissolves over geologic time. The conversion of anhydrite to gypsum is an ongoing process that
isolates salt from ground waters.
What is the nature of the salt bed? The rock has a very low porosity and permeability even after coring. Anhydrite
is more stable and has been shown to be essentially a zero porosity rock with zero permeability. It reacts with pure
water but not with indigenous brine. Salt layers may have occlusions of liquid brine but otherwise are generally
dry. Some salt mines are dusty because of particles given off in the physical handling of salt. Table 9.1 is a brief
description of the Huntorf salt cavity for gas storage in Germany.
The porosity of rock salt taken from mines is on the order of 0.6 to 2.0 percent. The dry permeability of a
specimen with minimum confining pressure varies considerably from practically zero to 100 md. The permeability
of salt decreases with time when the specimen is subjected to overburden pressures of 100 to 800 psi. A
specimen confined at a minimum pressure had a permeability of 15 md, when it was confined at 800 psi pressure
for 17 hours, the permeability was reduced to 0.33 md, and when confined for 500 hours, to 0.13 md.
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Huntorf, Germany
1975
4
Peak shaving (seasonal)
Dome
Permian
35 C
6 3
1.3210 m
6 3
18010 m
6 3
13010 m
6 3
5010 m
6 3
7.210 m
100 bar
25 bar
650 m
65 m
200 m
5%
500 m
650 m
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3. Cycling loading effects, i.e., fatigue, may cause the rock salt to behave as a brittle material after a certain
time period.
Salt has a degree of plasticity, and thus it can be extruded. It is more mobile at higher temperatures under a given
stress. At greater depths there are higher temperatures, and therefore more creep. However, a certain depth is
needed to permit a desired pressure to be no more than 0.8 of overburden pressure. A cavity at Eminence,
Alabama, closed 50 percent within two years when a lower pressure (3800 psia to 1200 psia) was employed in
gas storage.
9.4.4 Operating Configurations
There are two possible operating configurations compensated and uncompensated systems (Figures 9.10 and
9.11).
The cost of developing the compensated system is higher than that for an uncompensated system. On the other
hand, in order to prolong the life of a salt cavity, higher-pressure operations are desirable and for high pressures,
the brine compensated system has advantages. Uncompensated salt caverns depend upon gas pressure changes in
the cavern as would occur in gas storage, and this depends on the ability of the cavern salt structure to resist salt
creep. Figure 9.10 is a sketch of a brine compensated storage cavity in which a brine head displaces the
hydrocarbon withdrawal. This mode is used for propane-butane-natural gas liquid storage.
When gas injected into salt cavity, the temperature of the gas in the cavity will rise before it is cooled by the
surroundings. On the other hand, temperature decreases during the withdrawal of the gas.
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Figure 9.3 Typical gas injection and gas withdrawal schedule for storage reservoirs.
Figure 9.4 P/z versus gas content for hypothetical gas reservoir.
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