Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLEĀ 8.1
New North American Gas Storage Requirements
IncrementalWorking
GasCapacity
2004to2008
(Bcf)
2009to2020
(Bcf)
Total(Bcf)
Western Canada
30
40
70
Eastern Canada and
Michigan
36
74
110
Midwest
-
60
60
New York
10
56
66
Pennsylvania and West
Virginia
33
90
123
Gulf Coast
72
5
77
West Coast
21
78
99
Other
10
37
47
Total
212
439
651
Source:
Base case from At the Crossroads: Crisis or Opportunity for Natural
Gas? Energy and Environmental Analysis Inc. With permission.
responses to gas storage conditions, mechanical issues with wellbores, flow
capacity, and formation damage have all been investigated. Gas storage pres-
ents some unique technology challenges as compared to other exploration and
production operations. Included is the need to recharge storage fields on a
regular basis. Recharging exposes the wellhead and wellbore environment
to maximum operation pressures annually but requires all equipment to be
maintained for those conditions. In standard oil and gas operations, the maxi-
mum pressure is realized during early production and declines thereafter.
Another area of unique challenge arises from aquifer gas storage fields
that require overpressure conditions to inject gas into the reservoir. The
operation needs a caprock to prevent gas movement from the reservoir dur-
ing overpressure conditions. Typical oil and gas fields have proven the value
of the caprock technique by the oil and gas accumulations contained. This
condition does not exist for aquifer fields.
The U.S. Department of Energy conducted an industry workshop to assess
technology needs for near- and long-term gas storage. Five major topic areas
were identified and research needs within each category identified and pri-
oritized (TableĀ 8.2).
GasStorageandCO 2 Sequestration
A number of technologies developed by the gas storage industry in the United
States and Europe have potential application to CO 2 sequestration. The most
utilized method of storing natural gas in geologic formations is injection into
 
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