By OGJ editors
WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 15 -- The US Department of Energy said it is helping to organize a new US natural gas storage technology consortium. The group will include industry, academics, and government officials and be active through 2007.
Pennsylvania State University will establish and operate the $3 million consortium under an agreement between the school and DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory Strategic Center for Natural Gas.
DOE said the first phase of the agreement will last 18 months. During that time, the consortium structure will be formed, members solicited, and an executive panel of industry experts established. The consortium will also refine a technical approach for deliverability enhancement and reservoir management research, and select and award the first round of research projects.
The consortium will be industry-driven. It will "emphasize the creation of a balanced research portfolio of practical solutions, short-term projects, and basic research to improve the performance of the nation's gas storage infrastructure."
Federal and state officials anticipate that growing natural gas demand will put new strains on the nation's gas delivery and storage systems in the years to come.
Storage research
Research supported by the consortium will include—but not be limited to—technologies to limit and remediate the progressive damage caused by the repeated injection and withdrawal of gas in existing and future facilities, as well as innovative reservoir development and management techniques that can maximize performance, DOE said.
Research also will focus on developing manmade storage systems near demand centers. These include underground mined caverns, gas hydrate storage, distributed LNG, and other nontraditional means.