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Underground gas storage

Underground gas storage plays a critical role in the diversification of energy sources, potentially reducing CO2 emissions and reaching sustainability goals while assuring a reliable and flexible power source.

Gas storage and electricity working together to reduce emissions

Natural gas is taking a larger share of the energy mix as countries reduce their use of coal for electricity generation. It is easy to see why. It can be stored underground and natural gas delivers nearly twice as much electricity than coal for the same amount of CO₂emissions.

Natural gas storage

Natural gas storage is used as a strategic reserve to level out peaks in demand. Based on seasonal variations, gas is injected when demand and price are low, then withdrawn again as needed Gas storage also provides short-term protection against unforeseen supply disruption by providing an immediate and reliable energy source. Unlike spot markets, storage offers the advantage of a physical asset located close to demand. Natural gas storage allows large natural gas consumers to hedge supply and price risk and, should price suddenly spike, capture the upside opportunity.

How does it work?

A natural gas storage system needs a working gas volume, injection capacity, withdrawal capacity and a volume of cushion gas. The working gas volume is the volume that can be injected and withdrawn during normal operations. The cushion gas volume is the gas that is required to remain in store to maintain reservoir pressure.

The injection and withdrawal capacity, which are largely dependent on the storage pressure, control the rate at which gas can be injected or withdrawn. If storage pressure is low, gas can be injected at high rates but withdrawn at low rates. Conversely, if storage pressure is high due to considerable working gas in store, injection rates will be low, but withdrawal rates will be high. There is a well-documented hysteresis in the field's ability to be repeatedly repressurised and depleted which has to be modelled.

Where does it get stored?

The most common types of natural gas storage are in depleted gas reservoirs and salt caverns and, to a lesser extent, in aquifers. Where aquifers and depleted aquifers do have a much more useful storage capacity is in the area of CO₂ long-term capture and storage.

Underground gas (natural gas, CO2, hydrogen) storage solutions: depleted oil and gas fields; salt caverns; saline aquifers

Depleted fields

Depleted gas reservoirs have advantages over other types of gas storage as any unproduced gas can be used as cushion gas, and the fields may also have very large working gas capacity. Depleted reservoirs are also likely to be linked to existing gas infrastructure, which reduces initial investment costs.

Salt caverns

Salt caverns are located in thick halite formations. They are made by pumping fresh water down a borehole into the salt layer to dissolve the salt and circulate the saline solution to the surface. This process continues until the required size of cavern is reached. Hydrocarbon liquid or gas storage in salt caverns is well understood. For example, the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which is the world's largest supply of emergency crude oil, is stored in salt caverns at four sites along the Gulf of Mexico coastline.

Depleted aquifers

Converting an aquifer to a natural gas reservoir requires long, slow injection cycles to displace the water.

Cushion gas in depleted fields can be 50% of the total storage volume, whereas in salt caverns, it may only be 25% of the total storage volume.

Aquifer storage of natural gas requires a very large percentage of cushion gas making this the least efficient option for storage and withdrawal of natural gas. However, since the intent for CO₂ storage is that it stay stored, this is not an issue in that case.

What we do

RPS’ teams of geoscientists, engineers, environmental scientists and economists are uniquely placed to model the reservoir, quantify the injection and withdrawal capacity of depleted gas fields or salt caverns, model the hysteresis effects, identify environmental issues and assess the commerciality of any gas storage project.

Exploration and appraisal studies

Detailed 3D static and dynamic modeling for storage design and optimization
Reservoir porosity and permeability
Reservoir volumes
Communication between adjacent reservoirs
Input and output flow rates
Screening of depleted oil/gas fields for identifying storage potential
Cushion gas requirement

Asset and reservoir management

Screening of depleted oil/gas fields for identifying storage potential
Geomechanical modelling
Structural integrity of reservoir

Drilling support and wellsite geology

Field development planning and operations

Economics

Price forecasting

Environmental Impact Assessment

Environmental permitting and compliance

Sustainability and Climate Resilience

Health, safety, risk assessment and management

Where we've worked

United Kingdom

RPS conducted a gas storage screening study of a large complex of producing gas fields in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf, including technical and commercial feasibility analysis.

Following an initial audit of the Operator's existing subsurface models, RPS reservoir engineers assessed the reservoir's performance, including sensitivities to a range of parameters such as well count, well location, well design, injection & production pressure and cushion gas volume. Existing infrastructure was also reviewed and required modifications identified and costed. Final decommissioning costs were also reviewed.

We assessed the economic viability using a simple pre-tax cash flow model using the difference in seasonal gas prices. We tested whether investor thresholds such as return on investment, payback period, net present value and internal rates of return were met.

Canada

Through close collaboration with our client, understanding their objectives and applying our knowledge and experience of the area, RPS custom-designed and optimised a 3D seismic program and end-to-end workflow that enabled Enbridge, formerly Union Gas, to significantly improve the injection and withdrawal efficiency of an underground gas storage project in Ontario, Canada.

Read the case study - Improving underground gas storage deliverability with 3D seismic

Middle East

RPS supported a Middle Eastern government ministry to review national infrastructure and options for gas storage. This included a review of existing subsurface reservoirs and a high-level assessment of their viability for gas storage, along with recommendations for next steps and further studies.

gas pipeline with yellow pipes and red valve for underground gas storage

Europe

RPS has provided independent audit and validation for detailed modelling of existing gas storage facilities in onshore Europe to support contractual negotiations with clients and partners. study included modelling existing operations—including history matching—independent estimation of the range of remaining cushion gas in place, and forecasting future operational behaviour of the asset.