the Future of Carbon Sequestration
Underground Natural Gas Storage and
James L. Gooding, MEM-3070 Abstract
Facilities which are currently used for underground natural gas storage (UNGS) provide a distinctive per- spective on the effective design, operation and geographic distribution of future facilities for carbon dioxide sequestration (CDS) in geologic reservoirs. Indeed, saline aquifers, which have been identified previously as potential targets for CDS, are situated at depth below the surface footprints of many U.S. UNGS facilities. A strawman design concept for a hybrid UNGS-CDS facility highlights advantages for maximizing use of existing UNGS field and pipeline right-of-way (ROW) footprints while achieving additional benefits of geology- based CDS.
Keywords: Carbon sequestration, climate mitigation, gas storage, underground storage Introduction
UNGS offers a long-baseline perspec- tive which can usefully inform ongoing considerations about the use of geologic reservoirs for CDS. UNGS has served as a critical element of the energy infra- structure of the United States since 1915 (FERC, 2004) while CDS, as a mitigation for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, has taken on increasing significance since the early 2000s (Dooley, et al., 2006).
UNGS assets across the U.S. have assured that natural gas was available to industrial, commercial and residential consumers during periods when spikes of high demand exceeded available produc- tion from gas fields. As of 2019, there were a total of 457 UNGS facilities dis- tributed throughout the U.S. with a total gas storage capacity of more than 9,200 billion cubic feet (Bcf) (Table 1).
Natural gas, and UNGS, will continue to play important roles in energy reliabil- ity as the energy production by wind and solar assets grows to replace reliance on fossil fuels (Energy Futures Initiative, 2019). Although UNGS remains neces- sary and important, it is reasonable to
48 TPG •
Oct.Nov.Dec 2021
Table 1. U.S. Inventory of Underground Natural Gas Storage Infrastructure as of 2019A
Reservoir Type Aquifer
Hydrocarbon Reservoir
Salt Cavern TOTAL Notes: A. Data from annual regulatory reports (PHMSA, 2020).
B. A storage facility consists of the underground storage reservoir, wells used to in- ject or withdraw gas plus surface-support equipment, including gas compression and treatment.
C. Other wells not counted here include observation wells which are used to monitor reservoir condition and performance including any gas migration.
D. Total capacity includes working gas (the volume available for receipt or delivery of commoditized gas) plus the base or pad gas (the volume required to keep the working gas pressurized and usable). The actual amount of capacity used at a given time depends on market supply and demand.
www.aipg.org
Number of Individual Storage FacilitiesB
54 351 52 457
Number of Individual Gas Injection- Withdrawal WellsC
1,718 12,244 111 14,073
Total Gas Storage
Capacity (Bcf)D 1,371 7,162 699 9,232
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