Underground Storage Operations

Technology Today Series articles provide useful summary information on both classic and emerging concepts in petroleum engineering. Purpose: To provide the general reader with a basic understanding of a significant concept, technique, or development within a specific area of technology. HISTORY AND GROWTH The underground storage of natural gas, which began on an ongoing basis in the Zoar field, south of Buffalo, New York, in 1916, has grown to become a large and essential part of the natural gas delivery system. Early growth was slow because the industry itself grew at a slow pace. By 1925, only four pools with a total capacity of 7 Bcf were in use. This number increased to 15 pools by 1935, with 39 Bcf of capacity. The late 1930's saw the beginning of significant growth in both the number and capacity of these pools, and 75 pool sand 251 Bcf of storage capacity had developed by 1945. Another 10 years saw these figures more than double to 178 pools and 1,849 Bcf. This post-war expansion continued as natural gas became more widely used and pipeline expansion brought more and more gas into the northeast and other sections of the U.S. where it had not been previously available or where local supplies were declining. This rapid expansion of storage continued through 1965, with 293 pools and3,942 Bcf of capacity; by 1975, 376 pools were in use storing a total of 6,644Bcf of gas. Expansion has slowed somewhat since then, with approximately 400pools holding 7,800 Bcf by 1990 (Fig. 1). The location of these pools has also spread rapidly, with 27 states now having gas-storage pools. Much of this storage capacity is concentrated near large market areas in the middle Atlantic and north-central parts of the U.S. Storage has also become very important in the Canadian gas industry, which now has more than 30 pools holding 579 Bcf of gas. The facilities required for the gas-storage segment of the natural gas industry are also very significant, with approximately 18,500 gas-storage well sand 350 compressor stations with 1.75 million hp.