Kan. Admin. Regs. § 82-3-1212 - Operation, monitoring, and measurement requirements for cavern storage wells
(a) Each
operator shall monitor each cavern storage well according to the storage well
integrity plan signed by a licensed professional engineer and a licensed
professional geologist. The operator shall submit a storage well integrity plan
that includes information required by, and demonstrates compliance with,
subsections (b) through (n).
(b)
Each operator shall monitor the quality of the air to be injected into each
storage well before the commencement of storage operations and at least once
every 90 days after operations have commenced. The operator shall test for
fuel-fired turbine exhaust contaminants, water, and moisture.
(c) Each operator shall report the monitoring
results for each cavern storage well to the conservation division, on a form
provided by the conservation division, annually on or before April 1.
(d) Each operator shall monitor cavern
storage wells daily. If the cavern storage wells consistently operate in a
manner that appears to be protective of public safety, usable water, and soil,
monitoring according to a time frame based on the air injection and withdrawal
cycles may be allowed by the director.
(e) Each operator shall include in the
storage well integrity plan descriptions of the equipment, processes, and
criteria used to determine the pressure, temperature, water and moisture
content, total volume, and air flow rate. Each operator shall report any change
in the equipment, processes, and criteria by submitting updated descriptions to
the conservation division within 30 days after the change.
(f) Each operator shall install, within 30
feet of the electrical generating facility or at each cavern storage well,
equipment including any alarm and safety device that prevents the injection of
water and moisture.
(g) Each
operator shall equip each cavern storage well with sensors and safety devices
to continuously monitor the well and prevent the well from operating outside of
the allowable operating limits for pressure, temperature, water and moisture,
total volume, and air flow rate. If the cavern storage well is constructed with
tubing and a packer, the sensors and safety devices shall also monitor the
pressure in the annulus between the casing and tubing for any unexpected
increase or decrease in pressure.
(1) The
sensors shall be capable of recording maximum and minimum values during a
24-hour period.
(2) Each operator
shall submit any monitoring data, including historic continuous monitoring, to
the conservation division within 48 hours of a request by the conservation
division.
(h) Each
operator shall ensure that any cavern storage well conforms to the maximum
allowable operating pressure according to the following requirements:
(1) The operator shall perform a
site-specific geome-chanical core analysis of the fracture gradient that is
calibrated to the open hole log for each storage well and determines mechanical
rock properties for the bedded salt formation.
(2) The operator shall not subject the cavern
to pressures in excess of the maximum allowable operating pressure associated
with abnormal operating conditions, including pressure pulsations from the
electrical generating facility.
(3)
No operator shall allow the maximum allowable operating pressure or test
pressure to exceed the lower of either 80 percent of the fracture gradient for
the cavern measured in PSIG or 0.8 pounds per square inch per foot of depth,
measured at the higher elevation of either the casing seat or the highest
interior elevation of the cavern roof.
(i) If underground communication exists
between cavern storage wells due to fracturing or coalescing, each operator
shall immediately plug all cavern storage wells that are in communication
according to a plugging plan submitted pursuant to K.A.R. 82-3-1219.
(j) Each operator shall operate any cavern
storage well according to the minimum allowable operating pressure according to
site-specific geomechanical studies from core analysis or any representative
offset operating history, including any site-specific geomechanical core
analysis for LPG, natural gas, or crude oil storage facilities.
(k) Each operator shall operate any cavern
storage well within the injection and withdrawal rates and based on casing and
tubing limitations, the placement of any production tubing and packer in
relation to the salt roof, the stability of the cavern, and the flow rate
requirements for the electrical generating facility.
(l) Each operator shall operate each cavern
storage well at or below the maximum wellhead temperature based on the natural
thermal gradient of the cavern, air temperature variations due to injection and
withdrawal operations, heat transfer across the storage cavern wall, and core
analysis of the bedded salt formation.
(m) The wellhead injection temperature and
the normal thermal gradient of the salt formation shall be in a range that will
not significantly increase the time-dependent salt creep of the bedded salt
formation.
(n) The operator shall
develop an inventory balance plan, as part of the cavern storage well integrity
plan, that demonstrates the maximum air injection or withdrawal volume from
each storage well. The inventory balance plan shall include the cushion air and
working air volumes. The operator shall reevaluate the inventory balance plan
whenever monitoring, testing, or logging data indicate that a change in cavern
volume has occurred.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.