GAS STORAGE AND

RETICULATIONS

SKN 4223

ZAINAL ZAKARIA
GAS ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
TEL : 019-7515410
FAX: 07-5581463
EMAIL : zainalz@petroleum.utm.my
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
 Natural Gas
• Word ‘gas’ was invented by Flemish scientist Jan
Baptista Van Helmont (1609). Discovered from
heated coal and wood (Wild spirit)

• Natural gas discovered more than 300 years later, it is

believed the Chinese-collected gas coming to the
surface naturally to heat pans of brine water to obtain
salt

• Romans, Greek and others in ancient times used

seepages of gas for lights for religious purposes.

• 1821 in Fredonia, New York, natural gas was first

used in a practical way in a modern times

• Initially, natural gas in United States developed

parallel with the growth of manufactured gas from
coal

• 1935, natural gas took over manufactured gas in the

country

• Many energy analysts predict a very bright future for

natural gas with the expectation that its share of the
world primary energy demand will continue to
increase over the coming decades
• Natural gas is so called because it occurs naturally

• Three main types of reservoirs or structures in which

natural gas is found

1. Gas from structures from which only gas can

be produced economically is called Non
Associated Gas
2. Gas from condensate reservoirs which yield
relatively large amount of gas per barrel of light
liquid hydrocarbon is also called Non Associated
Gas (sometimes used to improve liquid recovery -
re-injected)
3. Gas from reservoirs where it is dissolved in
crude oil and in some cases also in contact with
underlying gas saturated crude is called
Associated Gas. Production rates will depend on
the rate of oil production

• Natural gas usually consists largely of varying

proportions of hydrocarbons of the paraffin series with
methane predominating

• If little or no pentanes and heavier fractions (C5+)are

present, the term dry gas may be used. Conversely,
wet gas
• C5+ and heavier hydrocarbon fractions, which are
liquids at atmospheric temperature and pressure are
commonly known as Condensate or Natural Gasoline

• Ethane, propane and butanes when extracted area

collectively known as Natural Gas Liquid

• Most natural gases produced contain water and has

been removed to prevent corrosion in pipes, appliances
and other equipment. Moreover, water may freeze in
coal temperature or form hydrates

• Hydrates – a solid compound resulting from the

combining of a hydrocarbon and water under certain
conditions which would obstruct the flow of gas.

• Carbon dioxide must be kept below certain limits as it

can cause corrosion in pipelines in combination with
water. Gas sales contract stipulate that the content
cannot exceed 2% by volume

• Hydrogen sulphide is highly corrosive and toxic and

must be limited to maximum 3 ppm

• Nitrogen is neither corrosive nor toxic, but it has no

calorific value. Therefore, the existing of nitrogen will
reduce the calorific value of the natural gas and
increase unit transportation costs because larger
diameter pipelines will be needed to carry the same
amount of useful energy
• Decision to extract nitrogen will depend on local
circumstances

• Many natural gases contain very small amount of

helium and in some instances argon, it is seldom
economic (or necessary) to extract them

• Some natural gases contain traces mercury and this

must be removed if the gas is likely to come in contact
with aluminum or aluminum alloys

• Most associated gases contain higher proportion of

ethane and heavier hydrocarbons than non-associated
gases.

• It is generally accepted that with bacterial action

together with increasing burial and hence temperature,
the organic matter (kerogen) transforms at a given
temperature initially into oil and at greater burial
temperatures into gas

• The type of organic matter determines whether it is

capable of generating predominantly oil or gas

• Hydrogen-rich, amorphous, sapropelic organic

matters an excellent source for both oil and gas while
hydrogen-poor, coaly organic matter, originating
largely by the burial of forest and swampy types of
vegetation, is mainly a source for gas
 CATEGORIES OF GAS SYSTEM

  a) Transmission
Pipeline installed for the purposed of
transmitting gas from a source or sources of
supply to one or more distribution centers or a
pipe installed to interconnected sources or
supply.
 
Transmission lines differ from gas distribution
line in that they operate at higher pressure,
longer and have greater distance between
connection

b) Distribution

A network of pipeline connecting the gas from

supply sources to the consumer premises.
 
Supply source are transmission line for natural
gas and bulk storage for liquefied petroleum gas.
PRINCIPLES OF GAS RETICULATION
OR DISTRIBUTION
Transmission Distribution

GPP City Gate Servis

Station Industrial
Well
Head
Servis
Station Commercial

District
Station Area
Gas
Station
Well

Compressor
Station Domestic
Servis
Station

Note : GPP = Gas Processing Plant

2nd Stage Meter

Regulator
User

2nd Stage Meter

Pressure: Regulator
5 - 20 psi
User

2nd Stage
Regulator Meter

User

1st Stage
Regulator

Pressure : 80 - 100 psi

Pressure: 9 - 11 inches water column

LPG Bulk Storage

 OPEN CUT TECHNIQUE

Pipe lowering UPVC Slab

HORIZONTAL DIRECTIONAL DRILLING

Mesin HDD
 GAS PIPING COMPONENTS

- High pressure system: A few categories of basic

components:

1. Pipe Optimization
2. Selection and Analysis of Pipe Route
3. Geotechnical and environmental aspect
4. Engineering Measurement Work
5. Crossing design
6. Buoyancy Control
7. Material Selections
8. Stress Analysis
9. Facilities Design
10. Corrosion Monitoring

- Detail analysis should be carried out on every

components whenever data gathered
 Basic Concepts of Gas Supply

- Items that need to look into:

1. Safe and Secure
2. Low installation cost
3. Low maintenance cost
4. Assessable to material and parts

- Supply system classifications:

1. Large industry - > 1000 m3/hrs

2. Small and medium industry
3. Commercial
4. Domestic - < 1 m3/hrs
 Malaysia Government Acts

- The system should design to fulfill the following

acts:

1. Petroleum Act (Safety Measures) (1984)

Safety procedures that need to follow in design and
facilities installation related to oil and gas

2. Environmental Act (1974)

Acts that control the impact to environment.
Required to do a detail study of the impact from the
installation

3. Factory and Machinery Act (1967)

Empowerment of testing requirements onto piping

installation which include welding procedure,
qualification etc.
 Code of Practices

- The sustain the security (safe and efficient) of the

installation of the systems
- Normally used in Malaysia. Based on more than 30
years excellent record worldwide

AGA : American Gas Association

ANSI : American National Standard Institute
ASME : American Society of Mechanical Testing
ASTM : American Society of Testing of Material
API : American Petroleum Institute
BS : British Standard
CSA : Canadian Standard Association
IP : Institute of Petroleum
ISA : Instrumentations Standards Association
MS : Malaysian Standard
MSS : Material Specification Standards
NACE : National Association of Corrosion Engineers
NEMA: National Electrical Manufacturing Association
PTS : Petronas Technical Standard
SIS : Standard Institution of Sweden
SSPC : Steel Structure Painting Council
 Design Factor and Class Location

- Pipe wall thickness was determined based on design

factor as stated in ANSI/ASME B31.8.

- Class location is determine based on the population in

200 m side by side of pipe which 1600 m length.

- Classified as below:

Less than 10 unit houses Class 1

10 to 40 unit houses Class 2

More than 4 0unit houses Class 3

and publics area

Multistory building Class 4

 GAS DISTRIBUTION PIPELINE SYSTEM

- Pipe
Material: Steel and Plastic
Diameter: Smaller than transmission pipe
Pressure: Lower than transmission system

- A Network system that operates at different level of

pressures.

- Consist of stations and the determination is based

on the level of pressure requirement by the user

District Station
Area Station
Service Station

- Level of pressure is regulate by gas pressure

regulator

- Odorant is added at station for safety purposes

 Storage : Definition

o It is defined as gas storing vessel to

accommodate fluctuating gas demand
o Total gas demand generally varies
considerably from summer to winter in
western country

Winter
Summer
Demand

Demand
Withdraw
Inject

Gas storage

Gas storage
 In Malaysia:
- Applied in areas when natural gas line is
not covered
- Customers make a special request - LPG
- Not related to the fluctuating demand

o Example of gas storage concept - natural gas

or natural gas liquid
Flowmeter

Vaporizer Pump STORAGE

Flowmeter

Compressor Gas Treatment Dehydartion Liquefaction

Remove:
Removed:
- Carbon dioxide
- water
- Hydrogen sulfide

Requirements of Gas Storage

1. Gas produced from well with very low

flowrate
 2. Rate of gas produced is not equal to a rate
of gas usage
3. Gas need to be supplied to various location
which is in area that natural gas pipeline not covered
4. Safety aspects

Type of Gas Storage

o Two categories of gas storage

1) Underground Storage which is used a sub-surface
structure as a gas storage:

a) Depleted reservoir- saturated reservoir or

unsaturated reservoir (Seasonal storage)
b) Aquifer - reservoir containing water (Seasonal
storage)
c) Salt dome (peak shaving storage)
d) Carven (peak shaving storage)

2) Storage in Vessel (Diurnal Storage)

a) Low pressure holder

b) High pressure holder
Low Pressure Holder

- Traditional form of gas storage

- Usually positioned on the sites of former gas
manufacturing plant
- Designed to ‘throw’ a gas pressure of a few
mbar on the local distribution network by
virtue of their own weight

High Pressure Holder

- Large quantities of gas can be stored under

pressure in a comparatively small physical
volume by gas compression
- The volume is reduced by a factor equal to
the ratio of the absolute pressure
- Main types of high pressure holder are high
pressure storage, pipe arrays and line pack
Seasonal Storage

Method can provide sufficient capacity for the large

volumes necessary

Peak Shaving Storage

The tanks can be filled over period of months to produce

enough gas for use over a few high-demand days – Satellite
storage

Diurnal Storage

Method to store gas in pressure vessel with capacity is

consider not high