THE MASS OF SALT EQUATION FOR ESTIMATING THE STORAGE CAPACITY OF AN UNDERGROUND GAS STORAGE SALT FORMATION

Estimation of the storage capacity of an underground gas storage salt formation was presented. An equation was propounded for estimating salt formation storage capacity which was based on the mass of salt produced from the formation. The propounded equation also introduces a coefficient termed Salt Formation Storage Coefficient otherwise called Muon Coefficient which is read from a chart called the Muon Chart. The applicability of the Muon Chart and thus the equation was based on certain assumptions which were listed in the Theory. The single limitation of this new equation was also shown in the Theory of this work. This new equation is termed Mass of Salt Equation because it makes use of the mass of salt produced from the formation in estimating the storage capacity of the salt formation. The Mass of Salt Equation was actually applied to compute the storage capacity of a salt formation, Formation AN-01, located South-East Nigeria. A Microsoft visual basic program was also developed based on the Mass of Salt Equation that can estimate salt formation storage capacity.