Natural Gas Technology - Gas Storage in the Playa Del Rey Oil Field

To date. utility company underground storage of gas has generally been restricted to depleted dry gas fields. The Playa del Rey project is probably the first to successfully store gas in a partially depleted oil reservoir with the recovery of large volumes of pas at high rates as the main objective. Oil recovery has been a secondary consideration. Problems encountered unusual to those of storage in a dry gas zone were: (1) the removal and retardation of formation of emulsion. (2) the upstructure movement of fluid during withdrawal periods which formed fluid blocks, and (3) reservoir shrinkage resulting from encroachment of edgewater. The solution of these problems as outlined in the paper has resulted in increasing the withdrawal rate from the original design capacity of 4,000 Mcf per hour to the current 10.000 Mcf per hour. Additional increase is anticipated as the operations continue. Migration. reservoir performance. operational procedure and a historical record are included to make this a resume of the project from its war-time inception in 1942 to the first of 1952. INTRODUCTION The Playa del Rey underground gas storage project is probably the first project in which gas has been stored in a partially depleted oil reservoir, with the recovery of large volumes of gas at high rates as the main objective and the recovery of oil a secondary consideration. Problems unusual to those of storage in dry gas zones have made this a pioneer endeavor. The total storage capacity of approximately 1,500,000 Mcf of this reservoir is small in comparison with other underground gas storage projects. However. by study and experiment the deliverability into transmission lines. operating at pressures in excess of 150 lbs., has been nearly tripled in the past three years. to the current 10.000 Mcf per hour late, without the use of compression. It is anticipated this rate will gradually increase as additional fluid is removed from the formation. LOCATION AND HISTORY Playa del Key is located on Santa Monica Bay about two miles south of the beach commuity of Venice and 15 miles southwest of the renter of the City city Los Angeles. Fig. 1. The discovery well was completed at 6,194 ft in 1929. An upper zone at 3,905 ft was found on June 18. 1930. Townlot development was very rapid and by the end of 1930 there were 141 producing wells in the field. The Union Oil Co. completed a lower zone well south of the Townlot Field in May, 1931, which was believed to be an extension, until additional drilling of about 50 wells during 1934 and 1935 indicated this area to be a separate accumulation as shown on Fig. 2. The lower oil horizon, which is now the storage zone, had no original gas cap and is believed to be a continental detrital deposit of conglomerate that accumulated in valleys and depressions of a weathered schist high. which later subsided and was overlain by an impervious nodular shale. This type of formation has rapid variation of porosity. permeability and thickness due to lack of sorting action common to marine deposition. and the uneven surface of the original schist high. Production was limited on the upstructure sides by the pinching out of the conglomerate, and downstructure by edgewater. Unrestricted production, together with high permeabilities, led to large wastage of gas from this new area as facilities were not available for transport of gas to market. The decline was very rapid and by 1942 the portion of the new area south of Ballona Creek was nearly depleted. ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY The rapid increase in industrialization of Southern California during World war 11 forced upon the local gas com-