TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF A MATURE GAS FIELD CONSIDERING THE CONVERSION INTO A GAS STORAGE RESERVOIR.

The main scope of underground gas storage reservoir is to maintain a constant pressure in the national transmission system and balance demand fluctuation on the market, respectively to meet the load variations. Underground gas storage reservoirs also play an important and strategic role as regards maintaining the fundamental parameters (pressure and flow rate) of the transmission system within optimal values. The underground storage activity is considered to be an efficient process allowing a constant delivery in the sales lines given the fluctuating market demands depending on hourly and seasonal requests. Currently, Romania owns a complex infrastructure system of gas storage having a capacity of 3 billion cubic meters and an appreciable number of fields which fulfill the gas storage reservoirs conversion requirements. Such a conversion may be achieved only if demand on the European regional gas market increase. This article presents a technical and economic assessment of a brownfield, which has progressed to a certain stage of exploitation, and is to be converted into an underground gas storage. This scenario is also an algorithm that supports this approach from a technical and economic point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]