Simultaneous Underground Gas Storage and Secondary Oil Recovery

Abstract

Abstract The Ambassador and New York City fields in Clay County, Tex., both of which produced from the Mississippian lime, are two depleted oil fields now being used for the underground storage of natural gas. Both of these fields are recovering substantial quantities of crude oil as a result of the high-pressure gas injection under the gas storage operation. The histories of these fields prior to the storage operations, the reasons for their selection as underground storage reservoirs and their performance both as storage fields and secondary recovery projects are reviewed. Introduction The basic function of a gas transmission company is to provide adequate service to its customers under any given load condition. This requires that the gas company contract for sufficient supplies of gas to meet its maximum demand under peal load conditions and provide adequate facilities to move such gas to its markets in the required quantities. Sufficient underground storage will allow the purchase and storage of gas in low-demand periods and the delivery of such gas to markets in the required volumes in periods of high demand. The high-pressure gas transmission lines of today are expensive, and it is extremely important that underground storage fields be geographically situated so that gas can be moved closer to markets in these low-demand periods through existing pipeline facilities. If underground storage can be combined with secondary oil and/or condensate recovery, liquid hydrocarbon recoveries can greatly reduce the over-all cost of underground storage. Considering the fact that, in the period from 1942 through 1950, our annual system gas purchases had grown from 67,415 MMcf to 150,821 MMcf and anticipating continued rapid growth of the system (particularly the principal market, the Dallas-Fort Worth area); it became apparent that costly additional pipeline facilities to adequately service such growth would soon be necessary.