Amoco slates Dutch gas storage project

Amoco's Storage Project [17463 bytes]

Amoco Netherlands BV has signed a contract with Dutch gas utility Gasunie for conversion of facilities at its largely depleted onshore Alkmaar gas field for underground gas storage.

At a cost of 300 million guilders ($190 million), Amoco will convert Alkmaar to be able to deliver up to 24 million cu m/day of gas at peak demand periods, in readiness for the 1997-98 winter.

An Amoco official told OGJ Alkmaar has produced gas since September 1979 from just one well, the 1 Alkmaar discovery well. The well has produced 2.7 billion cu m to date from estimated reserves of 3.5 billion cu m.

Alkmaar field lies in the Bergen concession, along with the producing Bergen, Bergermeer, Schermer, and Groet fields. A pipeline takes Alkmaar gas to a central gathering unit in Bergermeer field.

From Bergermeer, all gas from the license is transported to Alkmaar field, where there is a gas treatment plant. From here gas is delivered by pipeline to the Gasunie national distribution grid 2 km away.

Project details

As part of the project, Amoco has moved Alkmaar production facilities 1 km to a site in an industrial area alongside the existing gas treatment unit. At the new site, Amoco is building:

A new production/injection unit with 6 wells. Four of these have already been drilled to meet contractual injection obligations beginning Nov. 1, and two more will be completed by yearend. A manifold will be installed to enable switching from production to injection and back again, as required.

An injection unit, with compressors and turbines to pump gas into the reservoir, and a production unit to recover dry gas from the reservoir that picks up liquids again during storage, according to Gasunie's specification.

"Amoco is initially required to be able to deliver 12 million cu m/day of gas over a maximum 10 consecutive days," said the official. "By 2000 we will increase capacity to 24 million cu m/day."

Over 4 years the reservoir will be filled until the original reservoir pressure of about 200 bar (2,857 psi) is reached. Gasunie increasingly needs to store gas as giant Groningen gas field production declines.

Initially, the Alkmaar reservoir is expected to be filled with gas produced in the Netherlands. It is expected to be used to store imported gas as Dutch production declines and industrial demand continues to rise.