Multi-disciplinary monitoring of the Hutubi underground natural gas storage

Abstract:

Underground natural Gas Storage (UGS) can balance the gas demand and supply through injecting gas into or withdraw gas from the subsurface rock formation. UGS has been wildly established all over the world to face the complicated international energy system. In 2013, the Hutubi underground natural gas storage was put into production, which was one of the largest UGS in China. In the Hutubi UGS, the pressurized natural gas is injected into and extracted from an obsolete gas reservoir during summer and winter time, respectively. The repeatable in and out going high pressure gas may change the stress state and material properties of the underground rock formation, which may in turn cause surface deformation and alter the seismic hazard in this region. To understand the physical process of the periodic loading and unloading, we established a multi-disciplinary monitoring system composed of a geodetic network, a seismic network, and an active source monitoring system. The position and level of 13 spots around and above the UGS area are measured every three to six months with Global Position System (GPS) and short base-line leveling. More than 30 portable broad band three component seismic stations were deployed in study area to continuously monitor the background and possible triggered seismicity. These seismic stations together with a 12000 in³ airgun source, are also used to monitor the seismic velocity change associated with the gas injection and extraction. Preliminary results indicate that seismic velocity change correlates well with the injection pressure; seismicity decays with the lapse time after the startup of Hutubi UGS; small but detectable surface deformation associated with the gas activities is observed.