WVU study examines gas storage hubs' potential benefits in region

Sept. 4, 2017
The region where Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia meet could provide several suitable sites for natural gas storage facilities that could attract petrochemical and related plants to the area, a study issued by West Virginia University's Appalachian Oil & Natural Gas Research Consortium (AONGRC) concluded.

The region where Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia meet could provide several suitable sites for natural gas storage facilities that could attract petrochemical and related plants to the area, a study issued by West Virginia University's Appalachian Oil & Natural Gas Research Consortium (AONGRC) concluded.

"Appalachia is poised for a renaissance of the petrochemical industry due to the availability of natural gas liquids," said WVU Energy Institute Director Brian Anderson as the study was released on Aug. 29 at a Canonsburg, Pa., technical conference hosted by WVU's Eastern Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (EPTTC).

"A critical path for this rebirth is through the development of infrastructure to support the industry. The Appalachian Storage Hub study is a first step for realizing that necessary infrastructure," Anderson said. The study was scheduled to be available online starting Sept. 1.

Led by Doug Patchen, who directs both AONGRC and EPTTC, researchers from West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania's geologic surveys studied formations that could offer suitable locations for developers to build underground facilities to store NGLs from wells in the Marcellus and Utica shales.

The team identified and mapped all potential options for subsurface storage of NGLs along the Ohio River from southwestern Pennsylvania to eastern Kentucky, and the Kanawha River in West Virginia. They then focused on three subsurface storage options:

• Areas where the Salina F Salt is at least 100 ft thick and suitable for solution mining, which uses water or another liquid that is injected through a borehole to dissolve and extract salts and minerals.

• Areas where the Greenbrier Limestone is present 1,800-2,000 ft below the surface and is at least 40 ft thick.

• Convert existing sandstone reservoirs in depleted gas fields and inactive gas storage fields to NGL storage facilities.

The consortium previously conducted studies of the Marcellus and Utica gas plays, producing results that Northeast Natural Energy and other small producers as well as ExxonMobil Corp. and other large producers used to help fuel the region's shale gas boom.

It did this work as part of the Tri-State Shale Coalition, a cross-border collaboration among the three states that has been a critical a critical key for unlocking the region's economic opportunity, according to its members.

They said the public-private partnership brings together workforce development organizations, WVU and other academic institutions, and economic development groups to strategically advance the area as a "super-region" for petrochemical, plastics fabrication, and advanced manufacturing jobs and investments.

West Virginia's two US senators, Democrat Joe Manchin and Republican Shelley Moore Capito, introduced legislation in mid-June to secure financing for establishing a natural gas storage hub in the state (OGJ Online, June 13, 2017).

They said S. 1337 would make the proposed Appalachian Storage Hub eligible for the US Department of Energy's Title XVII loan guarantee program, allowing the Mountain State to realize unique opportunities associated with the area's abundant NGLs, naturally occurring geologic storage, and expanding energy systems.

About the Author

Nick Snow

NICK SNOW covered oil and gas in Washington for more than 30 years. He worked in several capacities for The Oil Daily and was founding editor of Petroleum Finance Week before joining OGJ as its Washington correspondent in September 2005 and becoming its full-time Washington editor in October 2007. He retired from OGJ in January 2020.