Eminence-Natural Gas Storage in Salt Comes of Age (VOL - 250)

Historically, major natural gas transmission companies have been faced with the problem of meeting peak demands when the source of natural gas is located hundreds of miles away from the marketing area. Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp.'s position was further complicated when offshore gas supply wells were shut-in during hurricane alerts. Transco's solution to this problem was the construction of salt storage wells adjacent to their pipeline near Eminence, Miss. Storage caverns were constructed using conventional solution mining methods. Two 13 3/8-in.-diam cased wells were completed and a 1,000,000-bbl cavern was leached at an interval of 5700 to 6700 ft at the base of each well. The two caverns have a usable storage volume of 2.0 billion cu f t and each well has a deliverability rate of 375 million standard cfd. The caverns are unique in that brine is not used for product displacement-all brine has been removed from the caverns. Natural gas is stored at a maximum pressure of 4000 psia. During withdrawal the cavern pressure drops to a minimum of 1225 Asia-the volume of gas between these two pressures becomes "usuable or top gas." The Eminence storage terminal is located on the Eminence salt dome about 30 miles north of Hattiesburg, Miss. Construction began in July 1968 and was completed in October 1970.