Key:gas_storage

The gas_storage=* key can be added to underground natural gas storage facilities. (tagged using industrial=gas_storage) It is used to indicate the type of storage.

There are three possible values.

Values

Tags	Description (by Wikipedia contributors)
gas_storage=depleted_field	These are the most prominent and common form of underground storage of natural gas. They are the reservoir formations of natural gas fields that have produced all or part of their economically recoverable gas. The depleted reservoir formation should be readily capable of holding sufficient volumes of injected natural gas in the pore space between grains (via high porosity), of storing and delivering natural gas at sufficient economic rates (via high permeability) and be contained so that natural gas cannot migrate into other formations and be lost. In addition the rock (both the reservoir and the seal) should be capable of withstanding the repeated cycle of an increase in pressure when natural gas is injected into the reservoir and in reverse the drop in pressure when natural gas is produced.
gas_storage=salt_dome	Underground salt formations are well suited to natural gas storage. Salt caverns allow very little of the injected natural gas to escape from storage unless specifically extracted. The walls of a salt cavern are strong and impervious to gas over the lifespan of the storage facility. Once a salt feature is discovered and found to be suitable for the development of a gas storage facility a cavern is created within the salt feature. This is done by the process of solution mining. Fresh water is pumped down a borehole into the salt. Some of the salt is dissolved leaving a void and the water, now saline, is pumped back to the surface. The process continues until the cavern is the desired size, some are 800 m tall and 50 m diameter with a volume of around ½ million m3. Once created, a salt cavern offers an underground natural gas storage vessel with high deliverability. Cushion gas requirements are lower, typically about 33 percent of total gas capacity.
gas_storage=aquifer	Aquifers are underground, porous and permeable rock formations that act as natural water reservoirs. In some cases they can be used for natural gas storage. Usually these facilities are operated on a single annual cycle as with depleted reservoirs. The geological and physical characteristics of aquifer formation are not known ahead of time and a significant investment has to go into investigating these and evaluating the aquifer’s suitability for natural gas storage.

See also

• pipeline=substation
• man_made=pipeline
• man_made=petroleum_well