Offshore Salt Caverns Enable a 'Mega' Sized LNG Receiving Terminal

Abstract

The unique and heretofore unknown combination of gas storage in man made salt caverns with LNG importation presents the possibility for LNG receiving terminals with very large storage capacity and gas send out flow rate. In particular, the use of salt formations for cavern development and LNG receiving in the Gulf of Mexico has the potential for offshore facilities combining easy ship access, large storage, and very large send out to the gas pipeline grid. This paper describes such a facility, its components, capabilities, and operating characteristics as well as an overview of some of the design decisions made as the Basis of Design takes form. This offshore facility will be further described in greater detail as a part of a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) cooperative research project commissioned by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and having cost sharing participants from a wide array of energy industry companies.

Leveraging epoch‐era analysis and digital twin for effective system concept and execution: A CO2$_2$ storage salt‐cave project

“…The work of Costa et al 12 proposes the construction of "giant" caves in the salt layer of the ocean bed to store the large amount of gas produced in the area. The works of McCall et al, 13 McCall et al, 14 and Costa et al 15 discuss the potential to use salt layers below the ocean bed for CO 2 storage. The works of Shi et al 16 and Londe et al 17 present various alternatives and discuss the pros and cons of each one, given the technical, economic, environmental, and safety aspects.…”

“…proposes the construction of “giant” caves in the salt layer of the ocean bed to store the large amount of gas produced in the area. The works of McCall et al., 13 McCall et al., 14 and Costa et al 15 . discuss the potential to use salt layers below the ocean bed for CO$$_2$$ storage.…”