Natural Gas Storage Facility

 Gas storage plays a crucial role in balancing supply and demand in most gas consuming countries. The purpose of natural gas storage is to meet seasonal demand, where the gas is injected into storage during periods of low demand and withdrawn from storage during periods of peak demand. There are three different types of gas storage:

  • Long range – injection during summer and withdrawal of storage during winter
  • Medium range – shorter injection/withdrawal times so it can react more quickly to demand, injecting when demand or prices are lower and withdrawing when higher
  • Short range – this onshore site stores LNG that has been condensed from the National Transmission System. When needed, the liquid gas is revaporised and delivered to the grid

Each underground storage type offers different benefits in terms of storage and deliverability and ideally a mix of storage facilities are required to provide a balanced portfolio of long term strategic storage and shorter term rapid response storage.

The underground reservoirs are the most important type of gas storage, and usually come from depleted gas reservoirs and salt cavern reservoirs. When compared to above ground storage tank facilities, underground gas storage provides significantly greater and cheaper storage volumes and when carefully constructed and monitored, added levels of safety.

Gas storage has an economic importance mainly during winter periods or at times of high demand when gas price increases. The existing storage facilities in the UK are Rough (offshore Southern North Sea), Aldbrough and Hornsea (East Yorkshire), Hatfield Moors (Yorkshire), Humbly Grove (Weald), Holford and Hole House Farm (Cheshire).

OSL has extensive experience in gas storage and can develop and deliver the right solution for our clients, including underground natural gas storage in man-made caverns in salt domes and bedded salt deposits. The multidisciplinary team at OSL provides our clients with services and solutions in conceptual study, concept selection, FEED, detailed design and 3D models.

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