f Reservoir Management of Underground Gas Storages and Online Monitoring of Compressor Units

can be influenced by salt precipitation effects and requires additional investigations. Thermodynamical and geomechanical aspects must be considered in salt caverns. During withdrawal period in partly high pressure areas with low temperatures there is a permanent danger of hydrate formation which can lead to extreme limitation in the storage performance. The salt convergence yields to reduction of storage volume/capacity of gas caverns and must be carefully monitored. The currently available tools and applied techniques for gas storage monitoring have reached high scientific quality. Because of the general complexity of the whole subsurface process the need of further development of monitoring aspects will be finally presented. Part 2 SAFETY AND ONLINE MONITORING ON RECIPROCATING COMPRESSORS AS A “STATE OF THE ART” MAINTENANCE TOOL, REDUCES OPERATION COSTS: Since decades, salt cavern and aquifer storages contribute to Europe’s supply security. From the early beginnings up to now, the storage requirements in respect of volume and availability have dramatically changed. In former times, the storages have been used only to handle the supply peaks in winter time, but now they are also trading instruments in the unbundled gas market. A flexible and stable operation of the installed compressors becomes of more and more importance. Nowadays reciprocating compressors are often installed at natural gas storages. High requirements for availability and reliability on the compression equipment are essential for the cost effective operation. Onlinemonitoring systems with safety shutdown functionality are “State of the art” tools to achieve those technical and commercial goals. A short excurse into the reciprocating compressor technology and online monitoring systems solutions!