Challenges to and proposals for underground gas storage (UGS) business in China

Underground gas storage (UGS) is one of the major storage and peak-shaving means in the world among numerous storage ways via gas fields, small-scale LNG, etc. With the rapid development of natural gas industry in China, the seasonal peak-shaving issues are increasingly prominent, so how to achieve sustainable development of UGS business has become a major problem at present. In view of this, we studied the present status and trend of UGS development abroad and analyzed the following challenges encountered by UGS in China. (1) UGS construction falls behind the world and peak-shaving capacity is insufficient. (2) There is lack of quality gas sources for storage and the complicated geological conditions make the cost of UGS construction high. (3) UGS construction is still at the preliminary stage, so experience is not enough in safety and scientific operation and management. (4) UGS construction, management and operation are not unified as a whole, so its maximum efficiency fails to be exerted. (5) The economic benefit of UGS is difficult to be shown without independent cost accounting. Based on the experience of other countries, some proposals were put forward on UGS development under the actual present situation: to strengthen strategic UGS layout, intensify storage site screening in key areas and steadily promote UGS construction; to establish professional UGS technical and management teams and intensify the research of key technologies; and to set up a complete and rationally-distributed UGS construction, operation and management system.