Investigating the Necessity of Underground Storage Construction for Natural Gas in Razavi Khorasan Province

Studies show that the maximum energy consumption in future years would be natural gas. Increasing gas consumption and peak of consumption in cold seasons make natural gas storage crucial to prevent future crisis. Underground storage is considered the best storage method for this purpose. The purpose of this paper to investigate the necessity of underground gas storage construction Razavi Khorasan Province. Razavi Khorasan Province is one of the areas where the cold period is relatively longer in comparison with other regions. This province is far from oil-rich regions of the country and the area is supplied with fossil fuel through pipelines (for gas) or road transport (for oil). Both transmission systems lack a high safety factor and are not considered reliable fuel-supply systems for the region in case of disaster. Evidence for this claim is the problems and hardships caused by the fuel supply in the unprecedented cold of the 2007 winter. To do this, natural gas consumptions of Razavi Khorasan Province within last years were evaluated and consumption methods in different months were also investigated. Our studies show that during cold months, Razavi Khorasan Province encounters gas shortage and therefore, underground storage of natural gas can be a proper and economic solution.