Status and development direction of salt-cavern gas storage technologies

The development trend of domestic and foreign salt-cavern underground gas storage (UGS) construction technologies was summarized. It is shown that some foreign technologies are worth referring, such as pattern of cluster well, large-hole casing program and large-displacement solution mining and brine reinjection. In the meantime, the construction of domestic salt-cavern UGS is faced with the difficulties of insufficient good UGS site resources, long solution mining period and low effective cavity utilization rate. In order to solve these difficulties, it is necessary to strengthen key technology research from the aspects of geological evaluation, drilling and completion engineering, solution mining design and control, utilization of complicatedly connected old caverns, and gas storage space expansion while exploring market-oriented operation mode, so as to increase the UGS construction efficiency greatly and promote the sustainable development of salt-cavern UGS in China.