Prioritizing Underground Storage Tanks of Natural Gas Using GIS and TOPSIS

Abstract

In this study, an efficient approach is suggested to prioritize the natural gas storage in existing underground reservoirs. The paper uses expert knowledge and integrates the Geospatial Information System (GIS) with spatial multi criteria decision making .The proposed method is based on TOPSIS as well as Hierarchical Additive Weighting Method. In order to consider different options, the most important possible criteria have been considered in this study, including: reservoir characteristics, distance from the center of gravity taking, distance from production centers, distance from the country's road network, the temperature around the reservoir areas, environmental characteristics of the reservoir, consumption gas in areas around the reservoir, population density, and the number of important industrial centers covered by each of the reservoirs. To evaluate the results of research, results of implemented methods were compared with each others and according to evaluation obtained from several experts; the final prioritization of different reservoirs due to their performances has been done. The results indicate that TOPSIS is more precise than Hierarchical Additive Weighting Method, and conform to experts opinions about prioritization of natural gas storage in underground reservoirs. .