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Meeting Our Nation's Energy Needs |
The Process |
Salt Dome Storage Video 
With natural gas usage growing, and the country needing more storage facilities to accommodate demand, AGL Resources is planning to build more natural gas storage in salt domes.
Salt domes are found in many places along the Gulf Coast. These underground geologic formations are massive – many as large as Mount Everest.
Underground conditions make the salt rock hard and impermeable. Because hydrocarbons cannot move through the salt, over time oil and natural gas collect near these domes in pools, trapped against the top and sides of the dome. In fact, many of the largest oil and natural gas deposits have been found on the edges of salt domes.
For the past 60 years, caverns inside these domes have been used to store oil, natural gas and other hydrocarbons. They are considered the safest means of storage by the U.S. Department of Energy, and salt dome caverns designed, built and operated specifically for natural gas storage have a particularly stellar safety record.
The Solution Mining Process
To ensure continued safe operation, salt dome storage facilities are carefully regulated. Storage companies like AGL Resources work closely with a number of local, state and federal agencies to select sites, design caverns and related facilities, build in environmental protections and safety precautions, and determine the best construction approach. The regulatory permitting process can take up to a year, or longer, before construction begins.
Once Jefferson Island Storage & Hub (JISH) receives all necessary regulatory approval for its proposed expansion, we will drill a well deep into the salt dome and begin pumping in water. Similar to running water onto a block of ice, the process hollows out an area in the salt and we will use sonar and other techniques to control and monitor the cavern development’s progress. After about two years, we will end up with a natural gas storage cavern a half-mile to a mile underground.
Rigorous environmental standards are built into the process. For example, the salty water, or brine, which is a byproduct of cavern construction, is disposed of through brine wells by pumping it into existing salt water reservoirs deep underground—well below the drinking water table.
Designing and building salt dome caverns, using the latest technology and safety systems to protect our employees, our neighbors and our community, typically takes about three years. Once a facility is in operation, natural gas is put into storage when demand is low. When energy use rises, natural gas is pulled from storage and travels by pipeline to where it is needed, helping heat our homes, cook our food and dry our clothes. |
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