SPE 69522
Diadema Project - Underground Gas Storage in a Depleted Field, in Patagonia,
Argentina
Juan José Rodríguez, Geologist with Repsol – YPF / Business Development and Technical Support Area – Natural Gas Development
and Marketing Division; and Pedro Santistevan, Geologist hired by Repsol – YPF / Business Development and Technical Support
Area – Natural Gas Development and Marketing Division
Copyright 2001, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum
Engineering Conference held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 25–28 March 2001.
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Abstract
Underground gas storage is a common activity in countries
with major transport and distribution gas pipeline
infrastructures, which allows to efficiently resolve demand
seasonality problems.
So far, Argentina, with major winter demand peaks and its
fields located thousands of kilometers away from consumption
centers, has not developed UGS facilities, despite the maturity
the industry has reached in the country, which has one of the
highest rates of natural gas participation in the power matrix
worldwide (47%).
The first ever underground gas storage project in Argentina is
being carried out in the Diadema field, located near the city of
Comodoro Rivadavia – Province of Chubut, with injection and
withdrawal operations starting as of 2001. (Fig. 1)
The goal of this project is to contribute to modulate oil and gas
production in the fields of the region, transporting and storing
part of the overproduced gas in the Austral and San Jorge
Basins during summertime, to have the necessary gas
available during the winter peak season, allowing producers to
comply with their contract obligations.
With this goal in mind, several studies have been carried out,
including reservoir modeling and simulation studies, gas
injection and interference tests, the workover of gas input
wells and monitoring wells, as well as the construction and
revamping of the necessary surface facilities for storage
operations.
Considering the size and geographic location, the Diadema
project will be a pilot operation in the region, which will serve
as a model for future undertakings.
Introduction
The main goal of this project is to optimize natural gas and
oil development and production in the fields of the Golfo San
Jorge Basin, because this is an oil producing basin with
associated gas, thus limiting operating flexibility for the
normal supply of gas demand in winter, as well as for the
management of surplus volumes of the summer production.
On the other hand the General San Martín gas pipeline is
utilized at its maximum capacity in winter, thus becoming a
‘bottleneck’ for gas coming from the Austral and Golfo San
Jorge basins, limiting the possibilities of transporting available
gas in producing fields to meet the demand in consumption
centers.
The situation is exactly the opposite in summer, a period
during which there is idle transport capacity available
resulting from the strong reduction in gas demand.
The Diadema Project allows to store excess gas from
producing fields during the summertime and contributes to the
optimization of the production of liquid hydrocarbons and
associated gas in the fields connected to the General San
Martín main gas pipeline, thus avoiding gas flaring and / or
shutting off high GOR wells in those fields. The natural gas
stored in the reservoir during the summertime will be later on
withdrawn during high demand periods.
In addition, this project will enhance the gas supply to
Comodoro Rivadavia city, so Diadema will be a new point-of-
delivery into the gas distribution system. This will contribute
to improve the reliability and quality of the natural gas supply
to the city, thus allowing to reduce or avoid (with future
expansions) current gas supply interruptions to “large users”
(power plants, industrial plants, etc.).
In spite of having performed a reservoir gas injection Pilot
Test and the technical studies to back the project, it is also
necessary to complete other technical evaluations and
investments to confirm the maximum storage capacity and
future natural gas injection and withdrawal regimes.
Background
In 1992, the former Gas del Estado company developed a
Pilot Reservoir Gas Injection Test (Banco Verde, 650 meters
2 JUAN JOSÉ RODRÍGUEZ AND PEDRO SANTISTEVAN
below wellhead level), for which some existing wells were
conditioned (2 injection wells and 5 monitoring wells).
A volume of 25 million cubic meters of gas was
injected at rate of 400,000 to 600,000 m3/day, with a wellhead
pressure of 25 to 30 bars. This operation was carried out
without having to install compression equipment because of
the low pressure available in the reservoir.
Interference tests were done among wells, as well as
isochronal tests (production), to verify the reservoir’s
performance under different working conditions.
The results confirmed the viability of the project,
indicating that the reservoir has good petrophysical conditions
and the appropriate capacity to meet local storage needs.
After that, the company owning the field (CAPSA)
operated the storage facility for quite a long time via the
injection well O – 11, which has made it possible to have a
record of the extracted volumes and of the declining wellhead
pressures. This situation has extended up to December 2000,
when said well was shut off to restart the reservoir gas
injection operation.
Between 1999 and 2000, Repsol-YPF SA has performed
studies of the reservoir and of its related surface facilities.
These efforts have included the following studies: Reservoir’s
Numerical Simulation, bottom hole static pressures,
monitoring wells workover, revamping of gas pipelines and
metering systems, as well as the setting up of new facilities.
CAPSA and Repsol-YPF have signed a “Contract of Use”
of the surface facilities and of the appropriate gas reservoir for
the so called “Banco Verde” horizon located in the Repsol-
YPF licensed area of the Diadema field, which allows Repsol-
YPF to curry out injection and extraction operations of the
stored gas, coming from the development and production of
other fields in the region.
Geology and Reservoir
The Diadema field is located 40 Km Northwest to the city
of Comodoro Rivadavia on the Northern flank of the San
Jorge basin.
Among the different hydrocarbon productive levels, we
can find the so called “Banco Verde” horizon, belonging to the
Salamanca Formation of the cretaceous-tertiary age, which is
located at an average depth of 650 meters below the wellhead
level. (Fig. 4)
Banco Verde horizon is made up of sandstone with high-
porosity (25 to 30%), high-permeability (> 2 Darcy),
deposited by a marine transgression in an estuary
environment. Its top is represented by clays deposited on a
coast lagoon environment.
Banco Verde horizon is a depleted gas reservoir with an
average thickness of 15 meters and an original pressure in the
order of 26 to 28 bars.
Structurally, the field is divided into blocks caused by
direct faults with an East-West and Northeast-Southwest
strike.
The gas storing operations are carried out in the so-called
Repsol-YPF licensed block, which is bordered by the North
SPE 69522
dipping faults named Cañadón Brooks “B” and “C”. The first
one has a 15-meter vertical throw, while the second one has a
vertical throw of approximately 40 meters. (Fig. 3)
Based on the information currently available, the working
gas is estimated to be of 70 million m3 and deliverability of
about 400,000 m3/day, with “peaking” possibilities at 600.000
m3/day.
Facilities
Existing facilities:
These are a set of facilities that have been out of service
since 1992, then built to run a reservoir gas injection Pilot
Test.
The Gas pipeline is a pipe with a diameter of 10” – 12”
and a length of 7.1 Km, fit to operate under high-pressure (up
to 65 bars), which connects the reservoir with the 12” diameter
branch pipe owned by the Camuzzi Gas del Sur S.A. gas
distribution company. In turn, this pipeline also connects to
the General San Martín main pipeline, downstream the
Manantiales Behr Compression Plant. (Fig. 2)
The 10” – 12” interconnection gas pipeline that provides
for the flow of natural gas to and from the reservoir, connects
to gas injection wells (“O – 10” and “O – 11”) and to a gas
line for the field’s internal consumption.
Several restoration works have been performed on this
pipeline under the NAG-100 applicable standard, including
the following among others: Hydraulic test (Maximum
Operating Pressure: 65 bars), installation of the new cathodic
protection system, and upgrading the path running parallel to
the gas pipeline, etc.
Metering. The metering system used is the orifice plate
system to control the injection flow into the wells, and at the
interconnection point with the gas distribution company, a bi-
directional ultrasound flow-metering system has been
installed, with state-of-the-art technology for on-line controls
and operation monitoring functions (SCADA).
New facilities:
Below is a list of the new natural gas injection and
withdrawal facilities that are under construction (Fig. 5):
Injection System. Taking into account the addition of 5
injection wells as of the year 2001, a manifold and connection
pipes are being built with a flow-metering system with a
capacity of 300,000 m3/day per well, at a 26 bars pressure.
Extraction System. To have withdrawal facilities
available during the winter season of June/2001, a 2,000 HP
compressor plant will be built, with a suction pressure of 7 to
15 bars and a discharge pressure of 55 to 60 bars, a
dehydration plant with TEG absorption, gas / liquid
separators, gas metering and regulation systems, manifolds,
on-line gas quality control systems (chromatograph and
hygrometer) and data transmission and communications
systems (RTU).
Natural Gas Injection and Extraction Cycles
On the basis of data collected from the reservoir numerical
simulation study, several natural gas injection and extraction
SPE 69522 DIADEMA PROJECT - UNDERGROUND GAS STORAGE IN A DEPLETED FIELD, IN PATAGONIA, ARGENTINA
scenarios have been ran, of which the so called Case 1 was
selected, estimated to be the best suited for the early stage of
the project, without disregarding the study of future
expansions on the basis of a reservoir pressure increment of up
to 26 bars and a higher number of gas injection / extraction
wells.
The most likely volumes to be injected during the project’s
initial stage (Case 1), have been established in the order of
400,000 to 600,000 m3/day, using the available pressure in
the Camuzzi Gas del Sur gas distribution pipeline.
In the course of the first year of reservoir injecting
operations, the maximum pressure to be reached will be of 21
bars, while the estimated natural gas volume to be stored is of
70 million m3, planning to withdraw approximately 40% of
said volume in wintertime and consequently the remaining
gas in the reservoir will be maintained as “cushion gas”(Fig.
6).
Once the operation has stabilized, after two winter/summer
cycles have been completed, the expected reservoir maximum
pressure is of 22 Bars and the estimated total volume of stored
gas is of 112 million m3, which will provide for an available
“working gas” of 72 million m3 and a “cushion gas” of 40
million m3.
The gas to be extracted of the storage facility in winter will
be compressed and) dehydrated for its reentry into the
distribution system within the quality specifications required
by the ENARGAS (Regulatory Body).
Monitoring of the Reservoir
To have a detailed control of the gas bubble in the
reservoir, workovers of existing wells located in the Repsol-
YPF licensed block as well as in neighboring blocks have
been completed.
Prior to the beginning of the gas injection operations,
measurements have been recorded of static gradients with
memory gauges in all wells identified to be monitoring wells,
to learn what the current pressure is and to identify the
gas/water contact of the reservoir.
Since well O-11 was a producing well up to December
2000, causing disturbance within the drainage radius itself, the
injection wells were shut off during 15 days prior to the
beginning of the gas injection operations to record the
reservoir stabilized pressure.
Upon the commencement of gas injection into the
reservoir, every individual injection well will record the
bottom hole pressure with memory gauge, with a minimum of
four uninterrupted days, which will provide records with
complementary information about the reservoir parameters
necessary for the fine-tuning of the numerical simulation
model.
During the gas injection stage, monthly static pressure
measurement campaigns will be run in the monitoring wells,
while well head pressures of these same wells will be recorded
on a daily basis, especially in those wells near by the O-10 and
O-11 injection wells, under a schedule of systematic
measurements both at the reservoir level with memory gauge
3
and at the well head level with a pressure gauge and a dead
weight scale.
Conclusions
1. Diadema constitutes the first natural gas underground
commercial storage project in Argentina, which will use the
transmission idle capacity of the General San Martín gas
pipeline during summertime for reservoir injecting purposes.
In its first stage of development, it will be used internally by
Repsol-YPF, in order to comply with its obligations under the
sale contracts of natural gas coming from the Golfo San Jorge
basin.
2. This project directly impacts the development and
production of oil and associated gas producing fields in the
region, thus contributing to prevent the occurrence of gas
flaring and the potential shutting off of high GOR wells in
summer. This situation leads to an increase in the
hydrocarbons production in the Austral and Golfo San Jorge
basins, a fact that helps the economy of the provinces due to
higher annual royalty revenues.
3. Its proximity to the Comodoro Rivadavia city, causes
the natural gas supply to be more reliable and to have a better
quality, turning Diadema into a new point-of-delivery into the
distribution network, which will operate in an independent
manner from the main transportation system during the winter
season.
Acknowledgements
The authors extend their acknowledgement to CAPSA and
Repsol- YPF, for allowing them to present and publish this
paper.
References
1. Use of a depleted field as a natural gas underground storage
facility.- Second Natural Gas Lat. Congress – November 15
through 20, 1992, Salta – Argentina. Weiner, Adolfo G. and
Arguello, Jorge
2. Underground Gas Storage in the World. Situation in the Argentine
Republic. SPE 38243. Bariloche – Argentina, Year 1997. Correa
Nacul, Evandro and Rodríguez, J. J.
4 JUAN JOSÉ RODRÍGUEZ AND PEDRO SANTISTEVAN SPE 69522

Figures

Fig. 1-Diadema Field

PERU BOLIVIA

SANTA CRUZ
CUIABA

BRASIL
Location

CORNEJO
TOCOPILLA PA
RA
TALTAL G
UA
Y
SAN PABLO
CHILE

TUCUMAN

URUGUAIANA
PARANA
ARGENTINA
PORTO ALEGRE
URUGUAY
SAN JERONIMO
PAYSANDU
SANTIAGO

RANCAGUA
LA MORA MONTEVIDEO
BUENOS AIRES

CONCEPCION

BAHIA BLANCA
LOMA LA LATA
DIADEMA
CHILE

COMODORO RIVADAVIA

SAN MARTIN GAS PIPELINE

UTE STA. CRUZ I y II

UTE TIERRA del FUEGO

METHANEX

Fig. 1.- Project Location

Fig. 2 – Connection to Transmission

and Distribution Pipelines

Manantiales Behr
Compression Plant
Gral. San Martín 30” gas To Buenos Aires
pipeline PC

Summer re-
injection
Gas from producing flow
fields 12”
10” Camuzzi 12” gas
Diadema field Winter extraction pipeline
Prospecting flow
well “O”

Comodoro
Rivadavia
Fig. 2.- Connection to Transport and Distribution Gas Pipelines
SPE 69522 DIADEMA PROJECT - UNDERGROUND GAS STORAGE IN A DEPLETED FIELD, IN PATAGONIA, ARGENTINA 5

Fig. 3 – Field Map

Fig. 3.- Field Map

Fig. 4 – Stratigraphic Column

Gas Storage Reservoir

Fig. 4.- Stratigraphic Column

6 JUAN JOSÉ RODRÍGUEZ AND PEDRO SANTISTEVAN SPE 69522

Fig. 5.- Project Flowchart

Fig. 6 .- Gas Injection – Withdrawal Cycles

Fig. 6.- Natural Gas injection and Extraction Cycles