The State-of-the-Art and Research Advances on the Underground Natural Gas Storage in Bedded Salt Rocks in China

The current status and development trend of natural gas pipelines and storage in China is summarized briefly. With the development of economy, the natural gas demand in China increases rapidly; the construction of long distance natural gas pipeline enters a fast development period. To support long transportation gas pipelines, a group of natural gas storages have been built or building in China. The success of the Jintan salt cavern gas storage project in old caverns validates that bedded salt rocks as well as salt domes can be utilized as host rocks of underground gas storage. Then, the advances in researches of the mechanical behaviors of deep bedded salt rocks in China are reviewed comprehensively. Some researches on the mechanical characteristics of bedded salt rocks have been present recently for feasibility studies of gas storage in deep bedded salt rocks. Those studies validate strongly the feasibility of gas storage in bedded salt rocks, and also provide useful technical supports for the construction of gas storages in salt caverns.