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Vol. 6, No. 1
1st Quarter 2000

Advanced Gas Storage Projects Results Released on CD-ROM Refrigerated-Mine Cavern Gas Storage Project

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is releasing a CD-ROM this spring that includes the final reports from four Advanced Gas Storage Projects. This research, which began in 1997, consisted of feasibility studies of new or improved storage methods in areas where conventional storage is not available or does not meet the requirements of end-users.

These studies focused on the technical and economic merits of the advanced storage concepts, with respect to their intended market and end-users, typically comparing projected performance with other options.

Projects on the CD-ROM include:

Lined Rock Cavern Gas Storage Project: Investigated the engineering and economics of constructing lined rock caverns, specifically looking at the feasibility of facilities in Atlanta (4 billion cubic foot (bcf) working gas capacity) and Boston (2 bcf working gas capacity). 

Refrigerated-Mined Cavern Gas Storage Project: Completed a feasibility, constructability, and cost analysis engineering study for a 5 bcf working gas capacity facility near the Baltimore/Washington, DC area.

Natural Gas Hydrate Storage Project: Evaluated the feasibility of using the natural gas storage capacity of gas hydrates (theoretically, 181 standard cubic feet per cubic foot of hydrate) in an industrial gas storage process.

Improved Modeling of Salt Cavern Design and Integrity Project: Performed modeling studies using an advanced constitutive model. Results indicated that minimum working gas pressures in most salt cavern storage facilities can be lowered by 10% with-out compromising stability. If applied across the salt cavern industry, this could equate to a 17 bcf increase in storage capacity, with no changes to existing infrastructure.

The CD-ROM is expected to be available in mid-April. It can be ordered through the publications section of NETL’s website: www.netl.doe.gov. For details on the studies, contact Jim Ammer at 304-285-4383, e-mail james.ammer@netl.doe.gov or Gary Sames at 412-386-5067, e-mail sames@netl.doe.gov. 

Refrigerated-mine Cavern Gas Storage Project

Landmark Graphics Offers Online Access to Well Data

Landmark Graphics, a wholly owned business unit of Halliburton, recently announced the release of iDims for online access to data on drilling and well servicing. Coupled with a customer's intranet site, iDims provides drilling morning reports, summary reports, and virtually all other information contained in Landmark's Dims for Windows (DFW) drilling data management system.

The iDims option allows customers to get access to the corporate data without having the data entry and modification capability of a full DFW system. By combining DFW data access security with the corporate intranet firewall to control site access, iDims provides users with the ability to select individual wells, events, report types and dates.

Note: This is excerpted from an article in Oil Daily, March 6, 2000.

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LSU Begins New Distributed Energy Resources Initiative

The Center for Energy Studies at Louisiana State University (LSU) has begun a new initiative exploring the opportunities associated with distributed energy resources. It involves small scale generation and storage technologies-typically sized under 1 megawatt (MW) capacity.

The initiative applies to reciprocating engines, microturbines, fuel cells, solar photovoltaic systems, and small scale power storage systems. Technological innovations and growing pressures for lower cost and higher quality power have helped to facilitate interest in these systems both nationally and in Louisiana.

The primary purpose of the Distributed Energy Resources Initiative (DERI) is to serve as an objective, neutral, third party source of information and applied research. David Dismukes will serve as Managing Director of the DERI, with Ritchie Priddy as the project manager and coordinator of information dissemination.

Interest in this topic at the LSU Center for Energy Studies began with the PTTC workshop, "Power Cost Reduction Methods in Oil and Gas Field Operations," held in 1998 in Shreveport, Louisiana. One of the first major events for the DERI will be "Distributed Energy Resources in the Oil Patch," a joint workshop with the PTTC Central Gulf and Texas regions. This DERI/PTTC event, to be held May 15 will cover application topics (interconnection, emissions, and gas quality) as well as issues associated with marketing small denomination power, and a number of specific oil and gas industry applications.

For information contact: Ritchie Priddy 225-388-4544, www.deri.lsu.edu. To register for the DERI/PTTC workshop, contact Barbara Kavanaugh at 225-388-4542, e-mail: epkava@lsu.edu.