Inventory Verification in Underground Gas Storage Rebuilt from Depleted Gas Reservoir: A Case Study from China

Inventory verification is one of vital tasks in underground gas storage (UGS) management process. For one reason, it is possible to know exactly how much natural gas is actually in the gas storage and ensure that it can be produced and supplied to the market in winter season when needed. For another, possible natural gas leakage can be discovered in time by inventory verification, to ensure the safe and economic operation of the gas storage. HTB UGS is a gas storage facility rebuilt from a depleted gas reservoir in China, which has been commissioning in June 2013. After 7 years injection-withdrawal cycles, we calculated and analyzed the inventory of this gas storage. First and foremost, we analyzed the data of 13 observation wells, including monitoring of gas-water interface, caprocks, and faults of the HTB UGS. In addition, we carried out core experiments in the laboratory to simulate the multi-cycle injection and withdrawal of gas storage, and analyzed the microscopic pore seepage characteristics of the reservoir during the UGS operation. Next, based on the operating pressure test data of the gas storage, we corrected the formation pressure and calculated the effective inventory. Furthermore, combined with the simulation results that we have carried out in the previous period, the effective inventory of HTB UGS was comprehensively evaluated. The result shows that: 1) The complete monitoring system indicates that the HTB UGS has no gas escaping from the storage field through faults, caprocks or wellbore. 2) The experimental result shows that in the process of gas withdrawal, various forms of natural gas such as jams and bypasses in some areas of the reservoir cannot participate in the flow, leading to this part of natural gas cannot be used. 3) Inventory calculation shows that as of the end of gas withdrawal in March 2020, the book inventory of HTB UGS is 99.8×108m3，while the effective inventory is 91.8×108m3 and the working gas is 39.9×108m3. 4) By acidification or other measures to improve the geological conditions, intensifying the well pattern and extending the gas production time, HTB UGS can increase its effective inventory. With the great efforts in constructing underground gas storage in China and the market-oriented operation of UGS, inventory verification of gas storage will become increasingly important. The inventory analysis method established in this article can provide a certain reference.